


A Lesson in Darkness

by jdsinsanity



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: F/F, F/M, Gen, M/M, Multi, Trigger Warnings, You Have Been Warned, all the triggers, don't read if you have triggers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-01-25
Updated: 2015-10-06
Packaged: 2018-01-09 23:51:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 12
Words: 159,851
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1152298
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jdsinsanity/pseuds/jdsinsanity
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Darkness was right. Alan had said the seed would take root inside them, a shadow on their hearts, hanging heavy like a chain pulling them into the deep.<br/>Allison could feel it clawing through her mind, she just kept pushing herself;<br/>Stiles got a taste every time he fell asleep and felt the drain throughout the day, and Scott, well,<br/>Scott was used to having a strange presence inside him. The wolf could probably sense the darkness better than Scott, but the wolf didn't tell.</p><p>What would the darkness bring them, only pain, only suffering? Or something more...</p><p> </p><p>The summer break was nearing end and the Beacon Hills teens had been spending their time recovering from the Alpha Pack and trying to adjust to their new lives. As they prepared to go back to school, new romances are kindled, old ones continue to smolder while new friendships are made.<br/>Suspicious activity raises worries of something similar to the Darach.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Seed of Shadow

 

Original Art by Jonathan Dills

 

 

It had been a very odd month since the lunar eclipse. Deaton was right when he predicted that the Nemeton’s power would draw things to it. They had several interesting encounters with new creatures lately. Luckily nothing they encountered was very serious.  
Lydia was working on translating the bestiary for the pack. Allison was training for the inevitable creatures that go bump in the night. Scott had been trying to adjust to the new level of power he had now that he was an Alpha. Stiles was, well, Stiles was not doing much of anything really. Stiles was being Stiles.

* * *

 

 

All things considered, things were going well. Derek and Cora had disappeared without so much as a goodbye, but they hadn’t kept it a secret that they were leaving. Deucalion also left Beacon Hills without any notice abandoning the twins and leaving them without an Alpha. The odd person to disappear was Marin. Alan's sister had given no notice that she was going anywhere, but no one had seen her after the night of the lunar eclipse. Calls to her phone went straight to voicemail and Alan felt like something wasn’t right about the whole thing. Scott had offered to attempt to track her through the forest but the scent was just too old to find. Her poster was now on the wall at the Sheriff’s office as a missing person.

  
Stiles sat in the hall at the police station staring at the poster while waiting on his Dad to get off work so they could go to dinner together. The picture they had chose of the french teacher/school counselor was almost a mug shot. Stiles wondered to himself why they didn’t use a better picture, but then they probably wanted the one most people would be able to recognize her from. He was scrolling through his pictures on his phone and looking back up at the poster while thinking about the situation. He understood why Derek had taken Cora and left. Stiles wished that he could gather up all his friends and family and move them to another town far far away too. It was kind of strange that Derek had left his car, but Stiles hoped that it meant he planned on coming back some day, or at least to visit.

  
He understood why Deucalion had left. He had been bested, then had his sight restored and gotten what he wanted by killing Jennifer. He had no reason to stick around, he may not even have a reason for keeping the twins around. He probably didn’t even feel the same rage as he had when he came back to Beacon Hills, everything was different for him now. Stiles shifted to lean his head against the wall looking up at the dusty air vents. Deucalion’s pack had been a means to an end, so he didn’t really need them once Jennifer was dead. If you really thought about it, Ethan and Aiden were lucky that he hadn’t killed them before he left. It would have given him even more power, but then, maybe he was done with wanting power.

  
He looked back at the poster of Marin. She had just gotten away from the Alpha pack, her shoulder wounded. She knew that Jennifer was the Durach and that she had been throwing off the balance of nature with her human sacrifices. She wasn’t a match for Jennifer, neither was anyone really. She couldn’t stop the Alpha pack either, so if Stiles were her, he would have went to get reinforcements. But who would she go to? That had been a month ago, and she cut off all communication with her brother Deaton. It just didn’t add up.

  
One good thing was that Scott and Isaac had been through miles of the preserve and haven’t found a body. They hadn’t found anything really, which was bad, but no dead body, that was good. It kept going around in circles in his head, but he was determined to figure it out. “Hey kiddo, you ready?” Stiles snapped his attention to his Dad. “Yeah, sorry, I was just thinking.” “Grab your coat and lets go, the restaurant starts to get busy soon.”

* * *

  
It was late in the day and Lydia was getting grouchy after being cooped up in the house all day. She was still sitting at her desk, laptop on, piles of books from the library all over the floor, desk, and her bed. A plate from breakfast and one from lunch sat among the mess of books and papers. Her mom had just stopped asking questions and left Lydia to her mess of books and reading.

  
After Aiden left this morning to go for a run, she had started doing her research. She wanted to know everything she could about what Jennifer had called her. Most of the websites and books were a pointless waste of time. Lydia had rolled her eyes so many times at the sites full of fairy-tales that she had lost count. Barrow hills and mushroom circles were not what she was looking for. A couple of pages had a pretty accurate view of what a ‘Banshee’ was and it sort of went along with Lydia and her abilities, but they gave little to no insight on how to control her power.

  
She leaned back in her computer chair and it gave off a little squeak. What was the point in being some type of dowsing rod for death if you couldn’t control it, or even better do something to prevent it. She pulled the pencil out of the bun of messy strawberry blonde hair she had twisted on top of her head and tossed it on the desk. Her messy locks tumbled around her shoulders and she raked her fingers through it.

  
One of the reasons she was volunteering to translate the bestiary was her hope that she might be in it. Interestingly enough the fairytales had some basis in reality. The pack had already come across something the bestiary referred to as a goblin. It more closely resembled the internet’s description of a gnome, though everyone had a hard time seeing them, especially when they were still, which they seemed to stay when anyone was around. Lydia thought the bestiary was much more accurate when it came to the actual creatures. The small group of gnomes had dug a mound of dirt in the preserve and were gathering food. They probably would have gone unnoticed if it weren’t for the smell they give off. Scott noticed them and Stiles couldn’t help but be Stiles. She could never see the little dirty potato looking lumps learning how to do anything they supposedly did in fairytales like mending clothes or cobbling shoes. But if one fairy tale is true, maybe a grain of truth was hidden in the others.

  
“I am not getting anywhere with this. I need to get out of here.” Aiden’s too big tee shirt fell off her shoulder as she reached for her phone. “Awww, missed messages from Aiden.” She read through them, Ethan had taken Danny out to a fancy restaurant and Aiden was making fun of him. She could tell that he wanted to know if Lydia would like something like that. He was so cute the way he pretended to be standoffish and unconcerned about being together, but Lydia could tell that he was totally wrapped around her little finger. She pulled up the tee shirt she was wearing. It still smelled like his skin. He could wait until after she showered, he had just spent the whole night here after all. She sent Allison a quick text and started considering what to wear.

Lydia to Allison: Are you busy? I wanna go see that new action flick with Channing Tatum.

Lydia almost left her phone on her nightstand to go shower, thinking that Allison would take awhile to respond since she was sure that she was out in the woods training. Again. But it chimed just before she left the room.

Allison to Lydia: Yes absolutely. Just wrapping up here. What time?

Lydia to Allison: 6:30 for sushi and the movie after.

Allison to Lydia: Done, meet you there. =)

Lydia pulled the shirt over her head and held it against her face breathing in the smell. She slid it under her pillow for safe keeping. She thought to herself that he didn’t need that tee shirt back if he didn’t ask for it.

* * *

  
Alan looked up from his notes at Scott wiping off the counters for the third time. “Why don’t you go home for the day. I don’t have any more appointments.” Scott smiled, “Yeah, it has been really slow today. I got most everything done earlier.” “Go on, I will close up.” Alan smiled warmly, but Scott could sense the underlying sadness. He just smiled back and walked to the back to grab his bag.

  
Scott had learned quickly after becoming an Alpha that no one wants you to press them when they ‘smell’ sad or when they tell a white lie, or in Stiles case don’t tell him when he obviously smells aroused by someone, but is unwilling to admit it even to himself. It was kind of an odd feeling to think of paying attention to your senses as invading someone’s privacy, but people didn’t want to be told how they were feeling or pressured into talking about their feelings at times that they were hiding them.

  
Scott stepped out the back of the clinic, strapped his bookbag tight on his back and closed his eyes listening for anyone nearby. He took a deep slow breath through his nose scenting the area. Nobody was around, so he dropped to all fours and bounded toward the woods to run home. He loved the feeling of running through the forest, his powerful body rocketing him forward. His reaction time had gotten better as well, which was a good thing when he was flying through the woods as quickly as he did. He avoided the area where the gnomes built their mound and kept his nose on high alert thinking about the time he nearly startled a skunk. Even though the close call with the skunk didn’t hit him, it had his eyes watering for hours.

  
When he got back to his house he shot through the back yard and leapt to the roof and through his bedroom window in a flash. He dropped his bag on the bed and reached out with his senses to see who was home. Odd, no one was here. It smelled like no one had been home for hours. His mom wasn’t scheduled for work and Isaac had said earlier that he didn’t have any plans. He pulled out his phone to send out a text to Isaac.

Scott to Isaac: Dude, where are you? Got off early, thought we could hang out.

Scott didn’t get a response immediately and decided to get a quick shower. The run from the vet clinic had gotten him sweaty. He felt like since he was Alpha he sweat a lot more. It was like his whole body was working on overdrive. He could smell his scent on everything in the room. It made him feel a little self conscious and wondered what he smelled like to other werewolves or even humans.

  
After his shower he stepped back in his room, still nothing from Isaac. He thought about calling the hospital to see if his Mom had gotten called in but about that time his phone rang. “Hello?” Scott said not recognizing the number. “Hey, can’t talk long, I’m just taking a quick break.” It was Isaac. “What do you mean you are taking break? You are working??” “Yeah, your Mom had a co-worker that needed some yard work done and I wanted to help out with money since your Mom was nice enough to take me in. Plus it is easy stuff, especially for a werewolf.” Isaac whispered into the phone. Scott laughed, “Just make sure that no one gets suspicious. What number are you calling from?” “Mrs. Gaskin was nice enough to let me use her phone cause my pre-paid is out of minutes.” “Oh, why didn’t you just ask Mom to get you some more? You need to just realize that it is okay to let us help you. You are part of the family now.”

An empty pause from the other end of the phone prompted Scott to continue, “Where did my Mom get to?” “I dunno, she said something about having some me time and said she would be back to pick me up. I still have about an hour left before I will be done. The lady’s daughter keeps watching me out the window so I have been taking my time, making sure I strain to lift heavy stuff. I need to get back to it” “Is she cute?” Scott teased. “Who?” “The daughter!” “Oh, um, yeah, she is an attract… I got to go.” Isaac said quickly. “I will see you later Mrs. McCall.” Scott giggled at him. “Okay, well, I guess I will just hang out here and play some video games. See you later.”

  
After hanging up he pulled on some clean jeans and a tee and walked down to plop in the middle of the sofa. He pulled out his phone and sent a quick text to Stiles.

Scott to Stiles: Hey, you up for some COD or Mario Kart?

Stiles to Scott: @dinner w Dad. L8r?

Scott to Stiles: Sure, I’ll be here.

I’ll be here, all alone… with no one to talk to.

The full moon was tomorrow night and he was feeling on edge and a little worried that his anchor to his humanity was not strong enough now that he was the Alpha. At this point he was unsure what his anchor even was anymore without Allison. The mental checklist of places he thought would hold him were always in the back of his mind, and he was seriously considering chaining himself up in the train station. He had to make sure that he didn’t hurt anyone, and he only had himself to rely on now that Derek was gone.

* * *

 

Melissa was driving around the block for a third time thinking to herself that she never had a problem finding a parking space before. She had been talking to a friend of her’s at work that worked in real estate part time, and she said that the area was booming with people moving into the area. Beacon Hills was a run of the mill town with no really impressive qualities, but for some reason people were moving here by the dozens.

  
She was going to end up being late for her nail appointment and then would have to listen to Dana complain about having to rush not to inconvenience the next client. And it was never just a complaint at the beginning and then forget about it, she would go on and on about how inconsiderate it was to show up late and Melissa should be glad that she didn’t charge a fee for late clients. If anyone else in town was clean and did good work Melissa would just go elsewhere, but the nail fungus she got from a shady place across town had scared her off trying new people.

  
Just then a car pulled out of a space less than half a block from the shop. Thank goodness for small miracles she thought to herself as she pulled into the space. As she was getting out of the car her phone started ringing. She fished it out of her purse and checked the caller ID. ‘Seth McCall’, Scott’s father calling. “Oh, now what?” she said as she answered the call, “Hello?” “Hey, Melissa, how are you doing today?” Scott’s Dad was using his sweet ‘I want something voice that she had fallen for so, SO many times in the past. “Can we cut the bull and get down to what you want, I am about to walk in the nail salon and Dana will whine if I am late.” The line was quiet for a moment as Seth caught up to her, “Yeah, sure. I’m working another case that is keeping me close to Beacon Hills, I was hoping that I could spend some time with Scott.” Melissa was all business when talking to her ex, “You know as well as I do, that is completely up to Scott, and he has made it pretty clear that he doesn’t want to spend time with you.” “Yeah, I was hoping that you might convince him otherwise.”

  
“Seth, you knew when you walked out on our family that there would be consequences,” She couldn’t help letting old feelings cloud her judgement, ”…. Look, I know that you miss Scott, and I remember what we talked about the other day, you made some decisions that in hindsight you wouldn’t have made now. I understand how you feel. We all make mistakes...” She leaned against the dark brick of the outside of the building and sighed. “I will talk to him and plan a dinner for all of us. Be warned, he will have friends over. I am not asking him to do the uncomfortable family dinner without any support from his … well, from the people that he considers family.” It was a low blow, but she wanted Seth to understand that Scott had moved on and made a new family, in more ways that one. “Fine, just let me know when.”

  
“Oh, hey, what is the case? Anything that I need to be worried about?” Melissa tried not to let her fear bleed into the tone of her voice. She had dealt with quite enough death, blood, and gore for the past couple months. “Serial killer, working his up from San Diego. We think that he was operating in Mexico before that, but the last time he was seen was outside of Modesto. The guy is a real sicko, we are really hoping to put him away forever. I will let you know if he gets any closer to Beacon Hills.” Seth was worried. He never could hide that very well when they had been together. Melissa always read between the lines of what he didn’t say. “I have to go or I will be late for my nail appointment. I’ll talk to Scott and get back to you.”

  
She hung up the phone and grimaced. Now I have one McCall happy and I am about to piss off the other. Just twenty minutes of me time before I have to go home and break the bad news to Scott. The bell chimed as she opened the door to the salon. Dana’s bright and horribly fake, super sweet voice greeted her, “Melissa, right on time,” the ‘you could have been a few minutes earlier was evident in her voice, “how have you been?”

* * *

  
Ethan reached across the candlelit table to caress his fingers across the top of Danny’s hand. Danny whispered uncomfortably, “I still don’t know how you can afford to take me out to a restaurant as nice as this one, I mean, what do you and Aiden even do for money? do you work?” “I said don’t worry about it. Just order what you want and enjoy yourself. I have been meaning to do this sooner, but I didn’t know how freaked out you were when Lydia told you about the whole… “ Ethan gestured his hands through the air aimlessly, “thing. I was really happy when you finally called me back. I really missed you.”

  
Danny could feel the heat in his cheeks and the tips of his ears. “I missed you too.” He paused looking down at the table, “I was really more pissed that you had been keeping secrets from me, but I guess I can understand why it isn’t something that you tell people on a first date. I’m still getting used to all this, so maybe we could just take things a little slower, but I definitely don’t want to lose what we have.” He looked across the table at Ethan’s eyes, the candlelight flashing off the back of his eyes like an animal in the dark, and smiled warmly.

  
“I really don’t know how I didn’t catch on sooner though. You guys are all completely irresponsible with your cell phones and emails. I did a little digital snooping and found a video of Peter tearing through the video store in Lydia’s phone memory. Someone attempted to delete it, but it was still on the harddrive, just not in the visible files. Scott and Stiles are just blatantly obvious in their texts to one another, and you need to tell Aiden to stop taking selfies while hunting animals in the forest. All it takes is someone with a little hacking background”, he thumbed both hands toward himself, “and all that stuff could be copied and all over the internet in seconds. I am thinking about setting up a secure server for all the…. pack? would it be pack business? and using an encryption on everyone’s phones to keep other people from being able to read them.”

  
Ethan just sat on the other side of the table grinning at Danny. “What?” Danny said looking confused. “It is so sexy when you talk nerdy to me. How did I luck out and get the brainy jock with the rocking hot bod?” Danny rolled his eyes, “I just want to be helpful. I guess I am part of the group now that I am in the know. How does that work? Am I part of your pack or Scott’s? Are you part of Scott’s group?”  
Ethan, pursed his lips, “I would love for you to be a part of my pack if I had one, but it is just Aiden and me, and we are both Alphas, or we are an Alpha together… well, an Alpha for now. Honestly I am not sure how it works. With Deucalion gone, honestly we are kind of lost.” Ethan looked down to his lap worried. “Hell, Derek is gone and Peter has disappeared too. The only Alpha with a pack is Scott and he doesn't know anything.” Danny frowned at the direction this conversation was headed. “Let’s just enjoy ourselves tonight and we can figure it out later, … together.” Ethan’s head popped up and the word together spread a big smile across his face.

* * *

  
Allison had fallen asleep during the movie and Lydia woke her up as the lights came back up. “What is up with you lately? How do you fall asleep in the middle of all that action and explosions?” Lydia eyed her in disbelief. “I have been getting up early every morning and training hard every day. I think that I could probably fall asleep standing up most days, besides, that theater was way too warm.”

  
Lydia just stared at her as they walked down the hall toward the exits. “What is up with you and killing yourself everyday with this training? The only thing that stump as drawn to the area have been a colony of lawn gnomes, and other than biting Stiles for stepping IN their mound, they were completely harmless.” Allison, huffed and stretched out her sore shoulders. “Besides that, you are seriously letting your nails get ruined and not to be snobby, but did you even attempt to fix your hair this morning?” Allison chuckled, “Only Lydia would make it about appearances.”I just feel like something is coming and I want to be prepared, that is all.”

  
“Well, I hate to break it to you, but considering I have only translated about four percent of that manual of your grandfather’s, there is no way that we are going to be prepared for everything. You need to just do what you can and chill out with the training at the crack of dawn.” Lydia reached out and grabbed her shoulder. “Seriously.” Allison, huffed out a breath and rolled her eyes, “Fine, I will cut back… but speaking of the bestiary and the percentage of translating done.” “NO! I am not getting dragged into this crazy habit of yours, trying to kill yourself over something that might not ever even happen.” Allison, just smiled.

  
“Do you want to see what the boys are up to and go hang out, or are you and Scott still pretending not to be in love?” Allison, looked down at her watch, “I think that I am going to take your advice and get in bed early tonight. Tell everyone ‘hi’ for me.” Lydia tilted her head to the side and lifted her eyebrows, “Are you sure? Okay, well, I am going to head out.” She leaned in and squeezed Allison tightly. “Well, I am going to run, I take it since we are loitering near the restroom you need to go. I will call you tomorrow.” Allison laughed, “Yeah, long movie, talk to you then.”

  
As Allison stepped into the bathroom she was surprised it was empty. She walked up to the mirror and tried to ignore the flickering fluorescent bulbs. She leaned close to the glass, which had a long crack running along the top, to inspect herself in the reflection. Her concealer was doing wonders on the dark circles under her eyes, but she was still kind of sickly looking. She did look tired but not half as tired as she felt. She couldn’t bring herself to tell Lydia the only reason she was training so much was because any time she slept she had the worst nightmares.

  
Taking a nap in the theater had smeared her mascara and she pulled a tissue from her purse to wipe at it. It seemed like it was getting darker in the bathroom. She looked overhead and sure enough one of the flickering bulbs had went out. “What a dump,” she muttered. As she turned back to the mirror all of the lights started flickering. The bathroom had an effect like a rave with strobe lights, fun when you were out dancing, not so much when you were trying to fix your make-up.

  
She started putting all her make-up back into her purse to leave when she heard, “Wasting time?” It was almost a whisper, but you could hear the sneer in the voice. Suddenly most of the bulbs went out and only two were flickering on and off. In the mirror, Allison saw a figure standing in the last stall. As she whipped her head around to check it was gone. She looked back into the mirror, but saw nothing. She grabbed up her purse and almost ran for the bathroom door.

  
Just outside the door she ran into Lydia almost knocking her to the floor, “Hey, are you okay, you look like you just saw a ghost.” “Yeah, I’m fine, what are you doing back here?” Allison asked still breathing quickly. “You left your phone in my car when we rode to the restaurant. Scott has been blowing it up ever since I told him that you weren’t going to come over with me.” she paused and gave Allison a look, “are you sure you are okay?” Allison forced her best fake smile while her heart was still racing, “You know what, I think I can stay up a little while. What did you guys have planned?” Lydia eyed Allison, she knew that more was going on than Allison was saying, but she was willing to wait until Allison wanted to talk about it. “You know boys, pizza and video games. Stiles absolutely can’t stand it when I beat him with Princess Peach and my blue turtle shell.”

  
The figure was still vivid in Allison’s mind as she listened to Lydia talk about playing video games, completely unaware of the horrors running through her mind at that very moment. Dried blood soaked all down her chest and looking like she had crawled through the forest, her hair was a tangled mass of dirty mats, her eyes clouded with white, it was still clearly her aunt Kate standing in the bathroom stall. Kate’s voice had been tormenting her in her dreams for the past month, telling her she wasn’t good enough, she needed to work harder or all her friends and family would be dead and there was nothing she could do about it. But now, she was out in the real world, or was Allison just going insane?

* * *

  
Stiles woke up as his knees and face smacked into the bedroom floor. He groaned pushing himself up from the floor quietly, listening for any sign he had woke his father. This had been going on long enough, he was just going to have to ask Deaton if this was normal. These nightmares were getting worse and worse.

  
The theme of this evening’s nightmare was yet again his mother. His Dad had been there standing in the shadows of the hospital room, the steady tone of the heart monitor droned on, his mother’s pulse gone. Stiles’ Dad was whispering “It is all your fault Stiles, you did this, it is all your fault.” He had tried to run, the hospital walls were dripping blood and then he fell in the floor, in the dream and in real life.

  
After a couple seconds waiting for his Dad to come check on him, he got up off the floor and checked the time. Five hours of sleep was plenty for one night, and there was no way he was going to get back to sleep after that. His heart was still racing in his chest. He pulled his chair out and flipped on his computer. He thought about signing on to WoW and seeing if anyone was up for running a dungeon but remembered that everyone in his guild would be asleep this early in the morning.

  
He pulled out his cell phone and opened his photos. He was scrolling through all the pictures he had taken over the past couple months. He had one of Isaac pulling an arrow out of his leg, Lydia in the background looking mortified, holding a crossbow. A blackmail picture of Scott carving Allison’s name with a stick into the shore at the lake. It was crazy that this was his life. Werewolves, Dark Druids, Packs of Alphas, all the people in this town that had died. He stopped on the one picture he had of Derek. It always make him smile to see this picture, but made him sad too. It was the one time that Derek had been smiling and looked some what happy, but then he was happy because he was looking at Cora, his only sane family member left, and he was finally leaving Beacon Hills.

  
Stiles pressed the button putting his phone in sleep mode and turned back to the computer. Might as well get some studying in since he was awake. He pulled up the copy of the bestiary and started scrolling through what Lydia had recently translated. He couldn’t stop thinking about how Derek and Cora were doing. He figured that Derek would probably have a life once they got back to New York, but he didn’t think that Derek would completely shut everyone here in Beacon Hills out of his life.

  
A creature in the bestiary caught his attention. Vampires?? Really, vampires are real? Stiles scrolled down further to read more. The result of a dark blood magic, he skimmed further, not consistently affected by religious relics, not averse to actual metal silver but the Argent family had obviously been involved in their killing, *skim* greatly accelerated healing regrowing tissue faster than werewolves.

  
He sat back in his computer chair thinking, Great, what else are we going to find in this book? He pulled himself back up to the monitor and continued reading. To kill them you needed to bleed them out using a steak through the heart would actually work but so would chaining one up and repeatedly slitting its wrist. Their tainted blood would burn in direct sunlight, but had to be exposed to the open air. They could walk in the sun for a very, very limited time but only if they had no open wounds, but in direct sunlight their blood would literally boil in their veins, expanding until it burst out of their skin and they would go up in flames. Interestingly they did turn to ash after they died, even if they weren’t burned the tainted blood would eat away at any healthy tissue trying to survive until nothing was left but ash.

  
The vampires were also susceptible to druid practices, a circle of mountain ash powder would trap them, arrows made of specific trees would not heal as quickly, several herbal concoctions could be used in defense against them. It mentioned other magics like runes that could be used to augment chains to hold them, or runes that could be carved into the threshold of a home to prevent their entry. The book had notes that they retained their human intelligence, identity, and morality and according to the code should not be killed unless they couldn’t (or wouldn’t) drink without harm or killing. Stiles rubbed at the bridge of his nose thinking, We thought that werewolves were bad.

  
At the end of the section Lydia added a note that had been typed in a different font on the last page. Recent addition: Vampires had recently been erased from existence by a ruthless hunter group who refused to follow the code. Sounded like Kate, burning down a whole house just to ensure the death of a few werewolves. They had infected the vampires with an engineered virus. It was designed to attack the tainted blood cells. No matter how much new blood they drank, the blood couldn’t carry oxygen and they suffocated. Stiles sat back in his chair and swallowed hard, what a horrible way to die, just like drowning. The majority of the population was inoculated with the virus under the cover of a flu vaccine. Pointless to bother studying a dead species, but they were interesting. It was amazing what horror stories turned out to be true. He started thinking about all the horror movies growing up, what next, the mummy, frankenstein, the creature from the black… oh wait, Stiles thought. The grindlow were pretty much mini versions of the creature from the black lagoon.

  
Stiles sat back up and moved on to the next section. He grabbed his phone again pressing the power button to look at Derek’s smile. He opened his messages and pulled up Derek’s name. No reply. He had sent a message the day Derek and Cora took off without so much as a ‘goodbye’, and tried to bait Derek into answering when he didn’t respond by calling him a grumpy sourwolf, but got nothing. He had sent Derek several texts since he left, but never got a reply. Derek was also part of the ‘Pack’ group message that Stiles had set up in his phone. He had probably sent over a hundred texts, surely Derek would have gotten annoyed enough to respond, but he hadn’t. Stiles wondered if Derek might have gotten a new phone, but then his messages should bounce back undelivered or responded to by some new stranger.

  
He made a mental note to ask Danny if he could do anything to figure out what was going on with Derek’s phone and sat his phone back on the desk to continue reading up on the impending circus that was going to take over Beacon Hills. The whole situation with Marin missing, then Derek and Cora leaving without a trace, and Deucalion leaving without notice, it bothered Stiles. He couldn’t stop thinking about it. Well, that and about a hundred other things all at once. But that was the way his mind worked.

* * *

  
Six a.m. and Scott’s alarm clock barely had time to go off before he slapped his hand on the button to silence it. He hopped out of bed in a flash and started pulling on his sweats. He had started getting up early and going for a run to try to start his day off right. He stretched out his tight muscles and pushed his senses through the house. Isaac just rolled over after his alarm woke him and was going back to sleep. His Mom was downstairs making coffee in the kitchen.

  
The coffee smelled really good, but he didn’t really have time to go downstairs and make a cup. He pulled on his running shoes and tied them snug. He slid open the window, feet barely touching the roof before doing a frontflip and landing softly on the yard below. He shifted into all four running and was shooting through the forest in no time.

  
Every morning he liked to do a lap around town. He would start by running to the condos where the twins stayed, the fact that Allison also lived there might matter, but he wasn’t going to admit that. He ran by the abandoned distillery, the abandoned train station, the abandoned warehouse where Derek had been staying, and the Hale house. He had started running to the Nemeton every day, but stopped when it gave him the weirdest creeps ever. HIs skin literally felt like it was crawling off his body and he felt cold inside every time he got close to the stump. He ran all the way out to the lake and back. He even made a pass through town and stopped by Lydia’s house, and Danny’s place before stopping off at Stiles last so he could hang out with his best friend and near brother. The whole time he was running he practiced his new senses, smelling for any new or unusual odors, listened to hear if anyone was in any of the abandoned buildings, and used his increased sight to scan the lake for any more creatures like the ones that had been eating pets earlier in the month. Deaton’s charms seemed to be keeping them away from the shores.

  
He was getting good at using his senses. He had even started to smell how people were feeling. It was like each emotion had its own particular scent. It was awkward though because all his life he had been taught that people needed their privacy. He felt like every time he noticed something that someone was trying to hide that he was invading their privacy. He had done it several time with Stiles and it felt odd. Stiles’ eyes had bugged out and he got quiet, and that was something Stiles typically didn’t do. Later it was a hundred questions about what he could smell and how close he needed to be to smell it. Scott could read between the lines. It wasn’t about what Scott could smell, but what other werewolves might have picked up on in the past that Stiles was worried about.

  
Scott liked running. It gave him time to think, time to clear his head, plus he felt like it kept his wolf, if there was such a thing, sated. Things were a lot more complicated now. Derek was gone and he couldn’t go to him with his questions. Oddly he missed Derek being there, he had gotten used to having the backup, or being the backup. Derek had taken on the role model position, almost like a big brother and Scott wished his big brother hadn’t run off when he needed him the most. Deucalion was gone too, but Scott felt like that was for the best. He didn’t know where Deucalion stood and whether he was trustworthy or not. Peter was gone too, but Scott was one hundred percent sure that he was happy that he was gone. Peter might be knowledgeable, but he was messed up in the head.

  
He stopped running in the middle of the trail when it dawned on him. He could talk to either one of the twins about how they rein in their senses. He also needed to talk to them about how the pack dynamic worked. It was all so overwhelming. He had so much to be responsible for and so much he needed to learn. So much to do, and so little time. It was time for a shower before he head into work.

* * *

  
Some of the buildings in the NY port were completely abandoned and sat filled with molding unclaimed shipping crates. Lots of places in the city were filled with nothing more than dust. That was one of the reasons that Laura ran here with Derek after the fire. She wanted to hide from everyone and blend into the static. There were plenty of places for two runaways to hide. The smell of decay and mold was almost overwhelming in these places but Peter had been able to still smell the faintest trace of Derek’s scent. It was old, years old and covered by many different homeless people’s scents. He’d ground his teeth together, his eyes glowing blue. Everywhere he went in this monstrous city, all he found were old scents of his nephew and nothing of Cora.

  
They had eventually settled in found work and gotten an apartment. The scent was strong there too, but also years old. They had made tentative friendships and frequented some places on occasion, but again nothing but old scent. No one who had known them before had seen them lately. He had been at if for nearly three weeks and had come up completely empty handed.

  
He sat in the subway car now thinking about places Derek may have taken Cora. They had no family to go to, and other than New York they had no ties to anywhere. It didn’t make any sense to him. Derek and Cora had taken off less than week after the lunar eclipse without even so much as a goodbye to Peter. At first he had been been confused. He text Derek to see where he was and what was going on. After not getting a response he called, but his call went straight to VM. Derek had left his car full of most of Derek and Cora’s stuff and just disappeared. Peter just sat and went over it all in his head again and again. Why would Derek leave in the middle of the day without any warning and leaving no trail to follow.

  
The subway car he was in was empty other than a bum who, from how he smelled, was sleeping off enough alcohol to kill a horse. What the subway car was filled with were the numerous odors from the city and the multitude of scents from the passing passengers. It was like bathing in the stench of the entire city. Peter looked up at his reflection in the chrome, his eyes were glowing blue. They should be red. His anger bubbled up within him. He should be Alpha, and after all his work, his waiting, patience and manipulation he had been so close to getting what he wanted. It was just a matter of time before Cora would have joined him and he would have been elevated back to his rightful place. Surely Derek would have followed family and joined his pack too. It was all puzzle pieces that should have fallen in place. It wasn’t even going to be something he had to force, it should have easily fallen in place, and now, now Derek had taken Cora and disappeared taking away his chance at gaining his Alpha status again. Peter roared and dug his claws into the seats to either side of him. He needed to find them, and he would, even if he had to scour this whole stinking city.

  
He took a slow breath and calmed himself. If he couldn’t find Derek and Cora, he knew of an Alpha or two in Beacon Hills that he could always kill instead.

* * *

  
Danny walked into the diner and toward the back where Stiles had said he would be sitting. It was odd meeting up with Stiles alone, it wasn’t like they had hung out before. Danny knew Stiles from school but they were never really friends. Danny thought to himself that it must have just been because of the pack. It seemed that if you were a member you were automatically considered friends with everyone. Still, Stiles had been oddly specific in his text messages that, he wanted to meet alone and would prefer that no one else know about it.

  
“Hey,” Stiles said waving at him from the booth in the far back corner. Danny made his way to the back and sat down. “I got you a coke, I hope that is okay.” He took one look at Stiles and his mouth just sort of hung open. “What? what is it?” Stiles said wiping underneath his nose. Danny closed his mouth, picked up the soda to take a sip. He looked back up at Stiles and grimaced, “I don’t know how to say this nicely, but you look like crap. What happened to your face?”

  
“Yeah, thanks, I hadn’t noticed.” Stiles griped sarcastically, dragging his hand down his face and rubbing his palms into his eyes, “I haven’t been sleeping very well and .. well, it isn’t really something I want to talk about.” Danny lifted one eyebrow, “I meant the huge bruise, did someone hit you?” Danny looked like he wanted to reach across the table and touch his cheek, and it caught Stiles off guard. “OH! No, this is just from lacrosse practice with Scott. He still hasn’t gotten a grip on his new strength and ..well, anyway.”

  
Stiles could see the disbelief in Danny’s face and had to interrupt him as he was about to argue, “Anyway, I wanted to ask you to do me a huge favor. I will owe you big time and this absolutely has to stay between the two of us.” “Okay” Danny smiled. Stiles continued rambling on, “But you are the only person I know that can... wait, did you just say ‘okay’?” Stiles looked at Danny like he was waiting for the catch. “Yeah, I mean, I want to be helpful if I can and it seems like the ones of us that can’t turn into giant wolves should use the talents we have to help.” Danny was still eyeing Stiles’ bruised cheek with a critical eye. “Wow, well, technically this isn’t for the pack, it is for me and my curiosity.” Danny raised his eyebrow at him. “Look, you tell me what it is you want, and I will tell you whether or not I can or will do it. How about that?” “Fine, I uhh …. want you to *mumble mumble mumble*” Stiles covered his mouth and mumbled the last words. “I’m sorry what?” “I,” He paused swallowing then licking his lips, “I want you to track Derek’s phone.” Stiles felt the heat in his cheeks and knew he was blushing.  
Thankfully the waitress walked up to interrupt the party, “What can I get you?” Danny looked up, “Oh, I’m not eating.” The waitress flipped her book closed, “Your burger should be out in a minute. You need a refill.” Both drinks were still mostly full and Stiles shook his head.

  
Danny seemed to be processing everything that was going on. Danny sat back in the booth and rubbed his hand over his mouth trying to conceal a smirk. “I had wondered why Derek was in your bedroom that time. And ‘Miguel’ seemed to be really comfortable stripping off his clothes in front of you….” “It’s not like that, okay,” Stiles interrupted, “I just, he left his car here, he hasn’t replied to anyone’s texts and I have been pestering him pretty heavily the past week to respond. I… , look, I am just worried about him and it seems like a pattern to me.” Danny stopped smiling at Stiles’ floundering and cocked his head to one side, his eyebrows pulling together, “What do you mean, a pattern?”

  
Danny mirrored Stiles when he leaned back forward and propped his elbows on the table. “Alan’s sister went missing, Derek and Cora disappear without saying goodbye, then Deucalion takes off without notice. I don’t think that any of them left of their own free will.” “Where do you think they all could have gone. I mean, Ethan said that Deucalion’s scent disappeared in the woods. They haven’t heard anything from him since.” “Marin’s scent disappeared in the woods too,” Stiles said looking serious, “and I don’t know if anyone even thought to follow Cora or Derek’s scent, but I bet you it disappeared in the middle of the woods as well.”

  
He paused for a second just looking at Danny, watching the thoughts as they went on behind his eyes. Danny spoke first, “I don’t know about..” “Just... check Derek’s phone and if it is nothing, then… well, then it is nothing. I just can’t shake this feeling, and I have been going around in circles trying to figure it out.”

  
“If you think might actually work out, why didn’t you want anyone else to know about it?” Danny said raising his eyebrow at Stiles. “I just,” his mouth was still moving but nothing came out for a second, “I don’t want to get everyone involved... when I don’t, um... even have any proof.” Danny smiled a wicked smile like the Grinch stealing Christmas. “Suuuure. We can go with that if you want, or I can admit that I may have already been reading a couple of texts here and there while setting up the encryption on everyone’s cell phones.” Stiles felt his stomach drop and he just stared at Danny. “Don’t worry about it,” Danny paused, “it can be our little secret.”

  
Stiles laid his head back against the booth and groaned, but his head popped up a second later. “Hey, there isn’t anyway that you can delete sent messages if they haven’t been delivered, is there.” Danny thought ‘yes’ but what came out his mouth was, “no, not after they reach the service provider, too much security to get through. No way I could get in, delete anything and get out without getting traced.” Stiles huffed and put his forehead on the cool table top. “I will have to search for Derek’s cell phone later, I am meeting up with Ethan after this to go hiking in the preserve. He said he has a surprise for me.” Stiles didn’t lift his head from the table but waved his hand dismissively through the air. “Go, have fun, I am just going to be here, dying of embarrassment.”

* * *

  
It was winding down toward the end of her second shift in a row and Melissa was running on the fumes of her last cup of coffee. She pulled the chart of her quietest patient and pushed open the door. “Mrs. Calvin, how are you doing today?” She paused looking over the chart, “Still asleep I see. Hmmm, well, one day you are going to be awake when I come in to check on you. And I want to be prepared.” As Melissa went around the bed checking the patient’s vital signs and moving her around in the bed to prevent bed sores from forming, she thought back about her case.

  
Mrs. Calvin had been found on her front porch by a neighbor. She was mildly dehydrated, but other than that, she was perfectly healthy. Everything about her readings, all the tests they performed on her did not indicate any specific problem; however, one thing was of great concern. No matter what they tried, she would not wake up. All of Mrs. Calvin’s readings were also greatly reduced, a slower heart rate, shallow breathing, and greatly reduced brain activity.

  
When they first brought her in they tried lots of different techniques to wake her, none of which were effective. They had talked about sending her off to another hospital with a specialist in sleep studies, that was until Mr. Johnson had been found almost a week later. Mr. Johnson, who was across the hall was in the exact same state and the Center for Disease Control [CDC] had been all over the hospital protocols. That was why Melissa was currently checking on two patients that were in the old, unused psyche ward of the hospital. They were moved here just to be precautious of any contagion that hadn’t been found yet.

  
After the second sleeper was found, the CDC has sent specialists to do an extremely thorough exam of both the subjects. Everything from stomach contents to fingernail scrapings were taken and tested. The poor patients had everything up to an autopsy performed on them. Thankfully nothing had been found, and now, they were undisturbed seemingly just resting.  
Melissa had moved into Mr. Johnson’s room with a warm greeting. He presented just like the other patient. He was still sleeping peacefully. She attended to all the same routines and adjusted the bed. She was just finishing up her notes looking forward to going home to a nice warm bath and some reading while the boys were out of the house. That all changed the instant she walked out the door.

  
Four gurneys were lined up outside in the hallway, several nurses were taking vitals and adjusting bags of saline. It looks like they had more sleepers. “Melissa,” The attending doctor shouted down the hall, “CDC wants the hall sealed, that includes all of you. I’m sorry.” A guy in a hazmat suit was walking down the hall toward them and put up his hands as one of the nurses went to walk toward the end of the hall. “Sorry ma’am this is for everyone’s safety.” “This is a waste of time.” Melissa nearly growled, “We have been in contact with Mrs. Calvin for days now and none of us have came down with even one symptom of anything.” “Mrs. McCall, we are just following protocol. Set up a rotation and any of you who have been on the clock more than a shift should get some rest, until we get more hazmat suits, you will be the only ones coming in contact with the sleepers.” “That would be me then.” Melissa spoke up, “I’ll be napping in Room 406.”

  
Melissa pulled out her phone to send a quick text to Scott, then turned it off so she could get some rest. Yeah, 2 sleepers was odd, 6 was, well, 6 was something unnatural. Maybe she needed to check the supernatural.

* * *

  
She had told Lydia that she wouldn’t push herself as hard, but when Allison woke this morning after a night of fitful sleep, haunted by visions of her friends in various versions of gruesome deaths, she got up showered and dressed for a day of fierce training. Seeing everyone you cared about dead was more motivation than a suggestion from her friend that she should take it easy.

  
She had already ran through a gauntlet of traps that her father had set up for her twice. The pack on her back was heavy with a multitude of different items that she might need for various creatures found in the bestiary. Her back was aching and a stream of sweat ran down her back as she ran through the gauntlet again. She had gotten hit by paintballs three times in the first pass, only once the second time, and was determined to make it through without getting hit at all. Her father had been reluctant to set up the course again, but Allison was very persuasive when she wanted something.

  
She had just thrown an iron dagger covered in ancient symbols of power into what was supposed to be a Syren positioned high in the trees. The motivational music she had blaring in her ears was a dual purpose, one protected her from the Syren’s song, the other kept her moving quickly. As she continued running toward the end of the gauntlet she felt a change in the air and drew back her bow to get off a shot before being brought to the ground by a tall lanky form.

  
Her instincts got her on top of the other person but had this been a real assailant and claws been out she would have been dead already. “CRAP!” she growled pulling the headphones free. He was breathing heavy, “Your Dad said I should come see if I could take you by surprise and he also wanted me to convince you that you have done enough for today.” Isaac looked up at her smiling with his shoulder covered in red paint from the arrow.

  
“Damn it!! I should have been prepared for everything. It is just near impossible to pay attention when I can’t hear anything!!” She sat up still straddling him. “What are you talking about, you got me in the shoulder before I could get to you.” “Come on Isaac, you and I both know that if I hit a werewolf or any other shifter for that matter, with ONE arrow it isn’t going to do enough damage to put them out of the fight. Besides, that arrow should have been through your heart, or at least center mass. I barely clipped you.”

  
She started to get up off top of him and he grabbed her wrists pulling her back down. “You already shot me through the heart once this year.” A smile flitted across her face, “You are so cheesy, but… I will give you points for that one.” She leaned down and pressed a chaste kiss on his lips. “You haven’t, well, told Scott about any of, I don’t know what this is, but…. this have you?” she asked awkwardly, “It’s not that I don’t want him to know, I just think that he is still a little hung up on the relationship and I don’t know how to… I just want to break it to him gently.” Isaac let her wrists go so she could stand and she walked away from him to the closest tree to lean against it and drop her heavy pack.

  
“Yeah, no, I haven’t said anything to him about it, but he hadn’t really talked about you in weeks.” It felt wrong to lie, but her “Oh?” was the answer to the question that he couldn’t ask. She was hurt by the fact that Scott had stopped talking about her, even though he never stopped talking about her. He had started scolding himself everytime he inadvertently brought her up, but still hadn’t stopped thinking about her. It was even more awkward because the pack bond with Scott was so strong that he could literally feel Scott’s emotions from time to time. It got so bad that sometimes he had to go for a run just to make sure the emotions he was feeling were his own.

  
Allison was as hung up on Scott as Scott was on her. Isaac couldn’t figure out why he was even doing this. He knew that they were both still in love but both too stubborn to admit it.  
“Listen, I got to run, Scott is going to be home from work pretty soon and I told him that we would order pizza and play Call of Duty while his Mom has the evening off. I will catch you later.” Allison could tell her ‘Oh?’ had not come out right and started to raise her hand and tell him to stop, but he figured it was probably best just to let him go. Instead she pulled out her cell and called Lydia. She really wanted to have some girl time and a sleepover was just the thing. Maybe with someone else in the room she would have a restful nights sleep.

  
“I can’t do it tonight, Aiden already made plans to come over and suffer through sappy romantic comedies with me.” Lydia said apologetically. “I can do it tomorrow night if you want, we can eat junk food and watch whatever you want...or talk about things, if, you know, you need to talk.” “What is that supposed to mean?” Allison asked furrowing her brows. “Oh, nothing, you just seem like you have a lot on your plate lately, I wanted to offer an ear if you needed it.” “No, I’m fine, I will see you tomorrow then, around 7 at my place?” “Okay, see you there.”  
She notices a text from her Dad.

Dad to Allison: Be home early for dinner, we need to talk.

Allison pulled the pack back on and decided to walk the rest of the way to make sure the traps were disarmed so that nobody got hurt walking through the preserve. She never noticed the eerie green glow of the eyes watching her from the bushes behind the trees.

* * *

  
They sat next to a lake that was a good two mile hike into the preserve. Danny was laying back on the blanket still breathing heavy and Ethan was just chuckling to himself while sipping out of a bottle of water. Danny sat up and tossed his baseball cap at Ethan, “I didn’t realize that when you said a surprise that the surprise was exhaustion from a 5 mile hike through the woods.” “Come on, you play lacrosse, you should be in better shape than this. Besides, look at the view from here.” Ethan said pointing across the water toward the mountains the sun was heading for. “If you want to stay through the sunset, I can carry you on my back all the way home.” Ethan scooted across the blanket to mold to Danny’s side and kiss him softly on the neck, just behind his ear. “Or,” Danny nearly whispered a pant escaping his mouth, “we could stay a little later and get a little more involved.”

  
Ethan pulled back and got a serious look on his face. “Just remember to stay away from the lake, Scott said he is pretty sure the vet’s charms will keep them away from the shore, but I don’t like taking chances.” “I know, believe me I know, I read up on your pack, well, Scott’s pack activity via text messages the other day. I will be staying OUT of the forest without supervision. Stiles may have bad luck, but I don’t want to end up in his shoes either.” Ethan just laughed out a hearty full laugh. Danny smiled. “I like hearing you laugh, it seems like a rare treat.” Ethan’s smile turned to a stoic face quickly.

  
“I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable,” Danny started. “No, it’s fine, I guess you are right. Things have been kind of rough for awhile. It feels like the first time in a very long time that I don’t have a thousand things to worry about, and I don’t have any ulterior motives or false fronts to keep up.” Ethan paused and brushed his finger along Danny’s jawline. “I like that when I am with you, I can just be who I am.. It, it makes me miss how things were before we were bitten.” At that Ethan looks away toward the sun sinking in the sky.

  
Danny felt a little apprehensive in pressing the issue further. He didn’t want to make Ethan feel pressured into talking about his past, but he was so curious. “You never really talk about your past,” he paused watching the rigid way Ethan held himself, “I don’t want you to feel like you have to, but any time you want to, I am here to listen.” Ethan back from the sky into Danny’s warm face, “Not today, but, um.. maybe some other time. Here, lets eat, I bet you are hungry after that hike.”

  
Ethan started pulling out all the food he had packed for the picnic and and thought to himself, he didn’t really want Danny to know the pain that he and his brother had had to endure over the last several years. His parents had been killed by a crazed werewolf in a lawless pack in the midwest. They were only 14 at the time. He and his brother were taken in and cared for by one tender hearted member of the pack. Hannah had been killed only months after taking them in. Her death wasn’t really even looked into, but without her there they were treated like less than nothing. They had both been bitten to make sure that they were more durable, the bite was less of a gift more of an insurance policy that they wouldn’t die too easily.

  
After years of waiting on the Alpha and his lieutenants hand and foot, enduring the beatings and healing from some of the worse punishments ever imagined being inflicted on his brother and himself, even suffering the occasional rape or causal torture session, Deucalion had seemed like a blessing. When his pack moved into the area, the lazy pack Ethan was a part of barely noticed anything. It was only when Ethan and Aiden went missing that they started to pay attention.

  
Deucalion wouldn’t let them join his pack as lowly beta wolves. He had other plans. After teaching them a trick that Deucalion had learned from another set of identical twins, he was able to help them grow powerful enough to kill their Alpha. It was easy enough to get back in the pack saying they had been kidnapped, half the lieutenants sent off to find the trespassing pack, leaving the Alpha pretty much alone and then they took the opportunity.

  
Being with Deucalion was a whole different type of torture. But in contrast, Ethan and Aiden both thought they were much better off at the time.  
Looking back on it now, Ethan’s heart ached trying to remember his parents and his family from before all the pain. He forced a smile handing a sandwich to Danny, who was staring at the sky in the distance. Danny leaned into him, “You okay, you got awfully quiet on me.” Ethan sat his sandwich down and cupped each side of Danny’s jaw pulling him gently forward to place a warm kiss on his lips.

  
He held him there for a moment, then pressed his forehead against Danny’s, his eyes still closed breathing in the scent and memorizing the moment. When he finally spoke his voice cracked a little and a tear escaped the brim of his eye running a trail down his cheek, “My past is not pleasant..” He paused looking up into Danny’s warm face. Danny opened his mouth to say something but Ethan pressed a finger against his lips cutting him off. “I would much rather talk about my future… with you.”

* * *

  
The hard knock at the Sheriff’s office door startled him from the report he had been reading. When he looked through the glass in the door Agent McCall stood on the other side of the glass. Seth turned the knob and opened the door and walked in dropping a thick file on Jonathan’s desk. “John, I’m going to level with you. I don’t have a clue what is going on in this town, but this case file has Beacon Hills all over it, and I wanted to warn you before you are surprised with another string of deaths on your hands.”

  
“Have a seat,” Jonathan offered gesturing to the chair in front of his desk as he pulled the heavy file across his desk opening it and scanning the first page, “You mean other than the 6 people we have found unconscious, you have another case that you think is going to end with more deaths, and this is the first that I have heard about it.”

  
Seth frowned and tensed his jaw, “We were hoping that it wouldn’t come any closer to the area, but from the projections, and the path, the killer must have ties to this someone here, and don’t look through that file on a full stomach. It is some of the most gruesome photos I have ever seen.” The Sheriff paused rubbing a hand across his stubble and closing the file for the moment.

  
“The first of the murders were closed citing animal attacks, ranging from bears, to mountain lions and even wolves.” Jonathan thought back to quite a few deaths like that recently that until Stiles had came clean he didn’t know anything about, and now he started putting things together. “Then the investigators started finding trace evidence and DNA that matched up from the previous scenes and we knew we had something else going on. There were several cases where entire families were killed. Obviously not the work of an animal.”

  
Jonathan sat the file back down on his desk leaning forward to prop his elbows against the paperwork strewn across his desk, “So, what are we looking at here?” Seth shook his head back and forth, “Medical Examiner says the perp has to be on some kind of drugs and extremely strong, literally tears them apart with his bare hands. I can’t imagine anyone that is strong enough to do some of the things in those pictures. People literally ripped in half, walls in houses torn down, cars turned over.”

  
Seth sat back in the seat and pressed his fingers against his temples. “I had just gotten involved in this case before coming here, and that file has things in it that I can not for the life of me believe that a person was capable of doing. John, I’ll be honest with you, I have had nightmares about that file.”

  
The Sheriff steepled his fingers under his chin, “How much time do we have?” Seth looks up from the floor snapping himself out of the memories of the photos in the file. “Oh, I would say a couple days at best. We can’t pinpoint transportation, but think maybe hitchhiking and walking. We have had extra agents and the highway patrol on high alert on all the roads in the area but haven’t found anyone to match the descriptions.”

  
Seth stood from the chair to lean against the Sheriff’s desk, “I hope we can stop this lunatic before someone else gets hurt. I’d advise that you keep this as quiet as possible, but your station needs to be in the loop. Technically, I am not supposed to be sharing this info with anyone. You understand?”

  
Jonathan walked to the door opening it. He said straight faced, “I honestly don’t know what file you are talking about Agent McCall.” Seth gave a small smile and stepped out into the station.

* * *

  
She watched in amazement through the mirror across the room as the scratches she had clawed into Aiden’s back faded away to nothing. She rested her chin on his shoulder panting for breath. Aiden was still nuzzled deep into the curve of her neck kissing softly and breathing her in deeply.

  
She carded her fingers into his hair gripping quite roughly and pulling his head back. “Is that something that all werewolves do?” She pressed her lips fiercely to his eliciting a growl from his throat. When she finally pulled back to fall into the mattress, he smiled down at her, her hair a wild mess around her head and he grinned a wicked smile, “I don’t know, are you talking about the multiple orgasms, the outrageous positions, the never ending stamina, or the scenting?”

  
Lydia batted playfully at his thigh and rolled her eyes and slid to the edge of the bed, “Don’t get cocky,” Aiden crawled up the bed like an animal and lay on his side in the mess of sheets and pillows. “I was talking about you sniffing me like some kind of animal.”

  
She stands up pulling off the torn remnants of the sexy pink lace teddy she had worn just for the evening. “You sure are hard on a girl’s outfit,” she said pursing her lips. “Yeah, all werewolves scent their partners. Honestly, it is seriously intoxicating. When you aren’t wearing all that store bought stuff, thank you for stopping by the way,” Lydia huffed. “and you are aroused, all your natural pheromones come out and mix with your skin and your hair...,” Lydia watches as his eyes shift to red and his voice takes on a lower timber, “And then when my scent is left of your skin, you really bring out the animal in me.” He closes his eyes shaking his head side to side and clears his throat. “I’m sorry about your clothes, I’m just glad that we can do this without you getting hurt.”

  
Lydia smiled her sweet but devious grin, “Considering I bought the outfit for you to rip off me, it would have been a shame for you not to have ruined it, and I figured there had to be a reason you kept leaving your clothing in my bed.” Aiden blushed at being caught, “I noticed that you have been wearing it.” Lydia just smirked, “I am going to shower… you…. are going to join me, and then we” she licked her lips seductively, “are actually going to watch the movie you promised when you came over…. Hopefully cuddling during the movie will leave me smelling enough like you so that your inner animal can be sated.”

* * *

  
The sound of her heartbeat pounding in her ears had drowned out the voice of her father sitting across the table from her. Allison tried to get a grip on herself and come to terms with what he was saying. “Allison, you okay? Allison….” She looked up from her plate of pasta and looked at her father with wide eyes. “So you are telling me,” she started out as almost a whisper slowly building, “that SOMETHING, we have no idea what, has been strategically taking out old families full of experienced hunters, for the past month or longer,” at this point she is near yelling and visually shaking with anger, “And this is the first time I have been told about it!!”

  
Chris sits back from the table obviously shaken by the outburst. He begins talking at a very measured tone and volume, “Until just recently it was all just unconfirmed chatter and rumors from an area so far away, that we could have done nothing about it. That has just changed. From the crimes scenes we everything points to it being an Omega wolf, but a werewolf is the one thing that we can rule out.”

  
He pauses looking up at Allison who still looks outraged as she stares at him a muscle in her jaw twitching. Chris calmly took his water glass from the table and drank from it. “The Rancourt’s are an old very well respected family of hunters, they literally have field’s of wolfsbane growing around their home. No werewolf could have ever made it through the fields alive especially given the fact that it was all in bloom. Had they been able to, the Rancourt’s are one of the best trained in dealing specifically with werewolves, a wolf wouldn’t have stood a snowball’s chance in hell in that house.”

  
Allison stopped grinding her teeth together and opened her mouth, “The Rancourt’s are all the way down at the Mexico border. What else aren’t you telling me?” Chris looked up from his pasta and smiled. “The Keating family just a couple hours south of here was hit as well. The family wasn’t killed, but Howard was found in several pieces just outside their compound.” He frowned wiping his mouth with the napkin. “The Keating family is mostly new to the hunter community. Howard is the only one with any previous experience. But the Rancourt’s were all established, experienced hunters, the only children in their family were gone to college. It might just be a coincidence, but it seemed to me that the creature was only killing the older hunters. Maybe there is something that happened years ago that we know nothing about? But the path of destruction seems to lead to our doorstep.”

  
Allison took a deep breath in trying not to let her nightmares flash before her eyes, “So you are telling me that something like a werewolf, but definitely not a werewolf is killing off the elder in the hunter families, and it is headed to Beacon Hills?”

  
Chris looked at his daugher with a blank face. “What are we going to do from here?” Allison stood from the table pushing her chair back into the wall. “I have some research to do. In the future,” she emphasised the last word flaring her nostrils, “I expect to be kept up to date on information like this. You are going to pay a visit to dear old Grandpa and beat information out of him if necessary.” She plucks her plate off the table, “I may be your daughter, but don’t forget who is the leader of the Argent hunters!” As she sweeps out the dining room to dump her plate in the sink, a proud smile begins to form on Chris Argent’s face, but a twinge of worry hung in his eye. They needed to be prepared and Allison was right, Gerard was the obvious first link in the chain of information.

* * *

  
The pull of the full moon just below the horizon felt like a giant magnet pulling the wolf within him toward the surface. He could feel the raw animal instincts growing inside him, almost like claws tearing at his rational mind. He had thought that he would have plenty of time to get prepared, but as he tried to leave Isaac alone, he could feel a need to be with his pack. It took an internal fight to get on his bike and drive away. He was already fighting against the change when he had left Isaac at his house and was driving toward the warehouse Derek had been living in.

  
After looking at the train station and remembering Derek’s strength when he was the Alpha, he thought that it might be too easy for him to break the bars in the train cars and escape. He remembered a room in the warehouse that had a solid metal door and concrete walls. He was taking no chances tonight.

  
He pulled his bike behind a dumpster and cut the engine. He wanted it to be out of view if anyone drove by the abandoned warehouse. When he jumped to the second story, the only windows not boarded up, he was surprised at how much easier it was this close to the change. He felt like he almost stepped up to the window ledge. He glanced back at the horizon and could see the light from the very edge of the moon breaking over, and felt his claws drop. Squeezing his hands into tight fists he felt the pain of the claws digging into his palm and held on to his sense of self.

  
He felt bad that he was cutting it so close but was only feet away from the room. It was rigged to lock when closed and Scott had already torn the handle off the inside of the door. He would be in there all night, and Isaac would come let him out in the morning. It was going to be a breeze.

  
Scott’s heart dropped into his stomach when he turned the corner. He stood in place as the room spun around him. He felt sick and started shaking uncontrollably. The door to the room that was supposed to keep him safely tucked away for the night, the door that was supposed to protect all the people in Beacon Hills from being his victims, the door that was the only thing between him and the monster inside him, was laying on the floor, its hinges looked rusted through. “FUCK!”

  
He pulled the handcuffs that he reluctantly had taken from Stiles out of his back pocket. This was supposed to be a perfect plan. He didn’t need handcuffs, but now they were the only thing he had. He looked about the warehouse quickly and found the thickest cluster of pipes. His claws were completely out making it awkward to handle the cuffs. This was not supposed to be happening. Wrapping his arms around the pipes he clicked the handcuff in place. These cuffs aren’t going to amount to anything.

He could still reach his phone, his mind was going a million miles an hour who to call with the last seconds of sanity he had before the change. Moonlight was starting to shine across the floor of the warehouse. He could feel the fangs pressing their way out through his gums. Pressing the speech option he growled, “Call Allison.” It rang, and rang, and rang, he pressed his forehead against the cold metal pipes a low growl rumbling through his chest, thinking she was ignoring his call. Her voice sounded somewhere between annoyed and worried when she answered, “Scott?” “ALLISON! I NEED YOU TO GET YOUR DAD AND MAKE SURE I DON’T HURT ANYAHHHH!!” The rest of his sentence fell into a roar as the moonlight crested over the windowsill and spilled into the room filling his vision and the wolf took control.

Allison felt a shudder of terror crawl down her spine as the line went dead. “DAD!” she yelled stepping into the hallway. Chris stepped out of his bedroom, shock across his face, “What are you yelling about?” “Scott, is loose and not in control of himself. We need to go now!”


	2. Growing Anguish

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Darkness fuels Scott's wolf as he runs free through the night, under the moonlight several lives are changed. In the wake of the terror relationships are strained and trust broken. Everyone is left reconsidering and unsure.  
> Scott puts himself in the hands of the enemy to fix things as only they can.
> 
> In the hospital a life hangs in the balance and the hue of someone's eyes have forever been changed, or have they?
> 
> In the confines of the hospital's protective walls, Stiles is the first to test the murky depths of the dark abyss.

It felt like he had been asleep for days and every second of that sleep had been riddled with blood chilling nightmare after vicious, gory, pain riddled nightmare. Scott didn’t open his eyes, he just lay there still tensed up from the vivid dreams. When he tried to take a slow, deep breath the dull pain he thought was phantom pain from his dreams came blazing to life. He snapped his eyes open and lifted his head up to look around. He was in the woods laying on the ground and he looked like a human pin cushion, arrows were sticking out of him almost everywhere that wasn’t vital. The smell of blood was pungent in the air.

  
Each arrow felt like fire burning through his body as the flesh tried to heal around them. “Hello?”, his voice came out so weak and broken he thought no one would have heard him. He lifted his hand up to block out the sunlight in his eyes, the handcuff was still around his wrist, broken chain dangling off of it. “Scott” Alan appeared next to him, “I am glad to see that you are back with us.” Alan reached down to the ground breaking the circle around Scott. “We all had a really rough night last night Scott, how are you feeling?” Scott rolled his head to the side coughing out a little blood that was tickling the back of his throat, “I’ve got a lot of arrows in me, so… kind of in pain.” He noticed Allison slumped against a tree asleep, but still gripping her bow. “Yes, those aren’t going to come out easy, but Allison was afraid you were going to actually kill someone, and nothing we did would slow you down.”

  
Scott closed his eyes remembering the panic from just before the change. “Did I…. “, the question dropped off without ending. Scott couldn’t even bring himself to think what he might have done. When he turned back to look at Alan, his eyes told him right away. “You didn’t kill anyone, but we think you might have bitten someone, probably several someones.” Scott just closed his eyes and ground his teeth together. “Deaton, I…. I don’t know what happened. The door was just,” He opened his eyes looking up into his mentor’s eyes, “How does something rust through like that?” Alan shook his head, “I don’t know, but I am going to look into it. I checked that door myself, and it was fine two days ago.”

  
Chris walked up looking down at Scott like he might leap off the ground and tear his throat out any second. “The arrowheads will twist off and the shaft should pull through, Allison refused to use any wolfsbane on them. It will still hurt a lot, but after last night, I can’t say I think you deserve any less.” Scott, didn’t even make eye contact. “Thank you for stopping me, this isn’t what I had planned.” Chris rubbed at his stubble with his hand, “The only reason you are alive right now is because I know you had a plan to lock yourself down and something out of your control happened. That, and Allison was pretty adamant that you were not to be killed.” Scott watched Chris turn toward Allison’s sleeping form, “In the future you WILL have a plan B and a plan C, and as many plans as it takes to keep you from hurting anyone else.” His voice which had been building louder and louder through his rant dropped to a whisper Alan probably didn’t even hear, “this happens again, I won’t hesitate to put a bullet in your head.” He walked over to Allison and lifted her up to carry her toward the SUV.

  
Deaton kneeled down next to Scott slowly twisting the head off the first arrow, “Scott, this shouldn’t be happening. Before you were an Alpha, you had control, you could shift at will, the full moon wasn’t controlling you. You have a pack to support you and you have an anchor. I think something else is going on here and I want you to know that, I don’t think this is your fault.”

  
Scott winced as Alan pulled the arrow slowly out of his shoulder, “You are wrong, I don’t have Allison as an anchor anymore.” Alan looked up at Scott and shook his head in disbelief, “She was here for you last night… she was the first person you called when you needed help. Like it or not, she is still your anchor, but there are things going on here that are out of our control. I really need to figure out what they are.”

  
Scott winced at another arrow being pulled from his thigh. That makes five arrows so far. “Does everyone know what is going on? I need to call Isaac and let him know what happened.” Alan looked pained and drew his mouth into a tight line, “Isaac is going to need a day to heal before he will be answering any phone calls.”

  
Scott sat up quickly, grabbing for the front of Alan’s shirt, his body protesting with a surge of new agony. “WHAT?!” Alan put his hand in the middle of Scott’s chest pressing against him. “He is okay Scott, he will live. It took quite a bit of effort on all our parts last night to keep you from killing anyone.” “What happened, is everyone okay, did anyone get hurt?” Scott looked panic stricken so Alan tried to give him all the details as best he could.

  
“You went from the warehouse straight for the Argent’s place. Allison sent out a text alerting everyone of the situation. The people, if you bit anyone would have to have been random people in their yards, or out on the street. The Sheriff is keeping tabs on reports of animal bites, and we are trying to get away with saying it was a panther or bear from the preserve.”  
Alan grimaced before supplying the injuries, “Isaac was protecting Allison and afterward you nearly killed the twins Alpha form, luckily Isaac was in control and didn’t take too much damage. They will all be feeling it for a few days. You broke through Stiles’ attempt at a mountain ash circle and he has a slight concussion from being tossed against a tree. The Sheriff slowed you down a great deal by emptying his gun into you, he escaped unharmed. All in all it was an eventful night.”

  
When Alan looked up from pulling out the arrow he was working on during his retelling of the night, the look of horror on Scott’s face was enough to shock Alan. “Scott…. everyone is alive and that is what is important.” The thirteenth arrow must have went through his spleen or something that hurt really, really bad. Scott literally passed out from the pain as Alan pulled it free. Alan thought he should try to get the rest of the arrows out before Scott regained conscientious.

* * *

  
Stiles’ phone text alert chimed the tune to ‘go go power rangers’. It was the notification he had set up for the group messages from the pack. He reached over from the hospital bed and grabbed it off the table. He double checked that his Dad was still sleeping in the chair next to the bed before opening the group message.

Allison to Pack: Just got home from the preserve, Scott is awake, alive. Deaton is removing arrows. Minor scrapes here. Sound off.

Stiles looked at the phone confused for a second before another text popped up, and then another. He quickly turned the phone to silent so he didn’t wake his Dad.

Lydia to Pack: Aiden is still asleep, but healing. I am going to have to throw away my sheets.

Danny to Pack: Ethan is awake and in a lot of pain. He is healing slowly. Who gives a shit about your stupid sheets Lydia? Is there anything we can get them for pain??

Stiles got the idea and started typing out his reply.

Stiles to Pack: Head is swimming/throbbing, back feels broke but Dad is sleeping next to the bed. Doctors are keeping me for observation for 24 hours. Danny, make sure he has enough water, they will dehydrate from healing and Deaton might be able to suggest something for pain.

Danny to Stiles: Thanks, I can’t believe how much damage Scott did.

Alan Deaton to Pack: Isaac was healing well when I left him at the office. Stiles is correct. Keep them hydrated, unfortunately they will metabolize any pain killer faster than it will help. You can try rubbing aloe over the wounds to assist/speed healing. I will be finished up with Scott in another 30 minutes, Danny & Lydia, after checking on Isaac, I will stop by with some other herbs that may help some with the pain.

Allison to Pack: Dad may have twisted his ankle. I am Exhausted! Will be sleeping but if anything changes, DO NOT HESITATE TO CALL ME!

Stiles was distracted by his Dad shifting in the chair next to him. He was going to wake up with such a crick in his neck from sleeping like that. He was really grateful that his Dad made it out of the whole ordeal unharmed. A twinge of panic gripped his chest thinking about how things could have gone so much differently and Stiles had to count his breaths for a minute to calm himself down.

  
Stiles really just wanted to talk to Scott and see how he was. It was the most terrifying thing ever to be standing in front of your best friend, screaming his name and looking into his eyes seeing no recognition there. Scott’s face had been contorted in rage, pupils were wide and a bright ring of red circled the pool of black. It was like the last line from the book that the twisted bitch Jennifer had them read for English class, It was like staring into the heart of an immense darkness.  
Stiles jumped when his phone vibrated again.

Alan Deaton to Stiles: I want to talk to you and Allison about any side effects that you may be experiencing since the sacrifice. Something feels off about Scott and I want to figure it out before anything like this happens again. Will arrange a time later.

Stiles to Alan Deaton: Other than consistent nightmares about my dead mother, I am a paragon of perfection.

Alan Deaton to Stiles: We definitely need to look into this. Nightmares are not a result of the sacrifice. Something else is in play here and I need to find out. Rest up and I will be in touch.

Stiles really, REALLY just wanted to go to sleep. The swimming head and nausea was starting to get to him. But every time he felt like nodding off the nurse’s words would pop back in his head. “Make sure that you stay awake!” He didn’t want to wake his Dad after last night, so instead of laying back in most definitely drifting off, he started playing a game on his smartphone. He was just about to finish the latest level when his phone vibrated and distracted him from clicking the right candy. “Crap, that was my last life for today”, Stiles grumbled. He closed the game and pulled up his messages.

Momma McCall to Stiles: I haven’t heard anything from Scott and his phone is going straight to VM, what is going on?!?

Stiles started typing and stopped. There was no way he was going to be able to explain all this in texts. He tried to be as quiet as possible. Melissa answered sounding somewhat panicked and louder than required. “Stiles? Where is Scott?” “Listen, I have to be quiet, Dad is sleeping in the chair next to me.” The confusion was apparent, “What? Why don’t you just go to the other room?”

  
Stiles rolled his eyes, “The nurse said I shouldn’t get out of the bed without someone here to help me.”Melissa started to interrupt with, “You are in the hospital?!?” But Stiles kept talking over her. “Anyway, Scott is fine, Deaton is taking care of him. I am going to assume he broke or lost his phone last night when he went Alpha all over the place.” Melissa gasped, “No! I thought that he had a plan for last night! What happened?” “We are still not sure what happened to the door, but it wasn’t good. I am under observation for the next 24 hours, Isaac is at the clinic healing, Ethan and Aiden almost died but should recover, and …” He dropped off the last part of the sentence. Melissa dropped low and almosted growled, “Stiles.” The pause continued.

  
Stiles shifted his legs in the bed and flopped back onto the pillow. He immediately regretted it when the room swam around him. Stiles!! “Scott may have bitten some people last night.” “SHIT!” Melissa cried. “Well, I just got the okay from the director from the CDC to leave quarantine and THOUGHT I was going to take the opportunity to go home and get a shower then relax, but I will be on the look out for any animal bites coming in.” She sighed heavily. “What room are you in? I will come by and check in on you.”

* * *

  
The room was just like he remembered it from the previous night. The heavy metal door lay and an odd angle in the floor in front of the gaping doorway. The thick metal hinges were corroded with what looked like years of oxidation. As Scott brushed his fingers against the rust it flaked off like it could never have supported the weight of the door. It kept running through his head over and over. There was absolutely no way that he could have overlooked this when he was planning on using the room.

  
He leaned against the opposite wall and carded his fingers through his hair. He couldn’t remember anything from last night. It was all just darkness and rage. He had thrown Stiles into a tree. He pressed his hands against his eyes trying to block out the thoughts. His best friend for as long as he could remember, he threw him against a tree, nearly cracking open his skull and could have killed him. He slid down the wall to sit on the cold concrete floor wrapping his arms around his knees. Isaac had to defend Allison from him. It was like all the control he had developed with Allison as his anchor was just … gone. Replacing control was unbridled animal instincts.

  
Alan had pulled out all the arrows while Scott was passed out and had to leave to check on Isaac at the clinic before taking herbs to Lydia and Danny. Before he left, he told Scott that he was glad that no one was killed.

  
Scott pulled himself off the floor and walked toward the bundle of pipes he had handcuffed himself around. The other half to the cuffs were laying broken next to the remnants of his crushed cell phone. He reached down collecting the broken plastic pieces and components in his hand.The memory flashed into his head “ALLISON! I NEED YOU TO GET YOUR DAD..” He shuttered. Feeling completely helpless wasn’t something that he thought he would be experiencing as an Alpha. He was supposed to be powerful, but power without control was reckless. It made him absolutely terrified to think about ever being in that situation again. He needed to make a solid plan, and a back up plan. Chris had said he would put a wolfsbane bullet in his head if this happened again, and Scott was thinking that he would agree to that. He needed help, he needed so much help, that much was obvious.

  
The crumbled pieces of his cell phone fell through his fingers to the concrete floor. He walked with purpose to the window he entered through. He stopped at the edge looking down into the alley, his bike was still behind the dumpster. Hopefully Allison had gotten enough sleep, because he was about to have a talk with her and her father about how to properly contain an Alpha.

* * *

  
He stood in the steamy bathroom staring open mouthed into the mirror. His dark brown, nearly black eyes stared back at him in disbelief. The gash across his cheek that he had gotten late last night in the backyard, it was just gone. There was no scab, no pink line, no scar, nothing. He had been so worried how he was going to explain it to his parents, and now it was just gone. He pulled his towel from around his waist and tried to see the bite on the back of his thigh. He hadn’t been able to get a good look at it last night, but he couldn’t see anything of it now.

  
“Jason, hurry up or you are going to end up being late to your appointment!” “Sorry Mom, I will be out in just a minute.” He ran his fingers through his dark hair which was still damp from the shower. He couldn’t exactly tell his parents about this, he was supposed to be in his bedroom last night before they left to go to the fund raiser, and he had been out in the backyard with his telescope looking at the moon. It was silly how protective his parents were, given he was 17 years old. I guess with the dog, or whatever it was, that bit him and knocked him into the bushes last night, maybe they had a point. The main reason for their overprotective mindset was his medical condition.

  
He toweled his hair and dropped the towel into the floor to pull on his jeans. He took a second to admire his physique, the work he had been putting into physical therapy was paying off. He opened the bathroom door to step around the corner to his room. He barely got into the closet to find a shirt before his mother yelled, “Jason, this towel does not belong in the floor. Where is your head today?” “Sorry Mom, I will get it.”

  
He pulled on a black and white striped tee and grabbed his socks and tennis shoes. He stopped to pull the closet doors closed, one less thing his mother will have to ask him to go back and do. As he stepped out of his room into the hall, his Mom was putting neatly folded linens into the hall closet, “Did you make your bed?” He nodded yes. “I don’t want to walk in your room later and find anything left out. You need to go back and put away your sketch books?” “No, I put everything away last night, I will get the towel off the floor, I’m sorry.” She just looked at him smiling brightly, “Honey, I already picked that up, I just want you to be responsible about things like that. Here are the keys to the van if you feel up to driving yourself.” She looked at him raising her eyebrows in a questioning manner. He reached out to take them. “Make sure that you tell Dr. Myers about any changes or problems you are having.”

  
He was surprised that he was being allowed to drive himself to the appointment. Having muscular dystrophy caused problems with his muscle strength and tremors, he had a very difficult time just last year but recently he had been doing better. Dr. Myers had him in a new drug trial and he was going to physical therapy three times a week. The reason he wasn’t drawing last night was because his fingers were feeling weak. He didn’t want to see the subtle change in his mom’s face every time he relapsed, so he hadn’t brought it up.

  
As his mom walked back into the laundry room and started putting in more clothes to wash, he hooked his index finger through the key ring and dangled it palm down. He held his hand there for a moment, his fingers were steady and still.

* * *

  
Melissa stepped into Stiles room quietly and looked over to see the awkward position that Jonathan was sleeping in. Stiles was so absorbed in his phone that he didn’t even notice her walking in the room. She watched him poking at the screen of his smartphone with his tongue poked through his teeth. Finally she whispered, “Stiles.”

  
He almost tossed his phone in the air and jumped out of bed when he looked up. Melissa tried to hide her laugh pretty unsuccessfully and whispered, “I thought I would stop by and check on you, see how you are feeling. You know, your Dad is going to wake up with a knot in his neck. You want me to try and convince him to go home.” Stiles eyes went wide, “Yes, oh my god, please, I told him that he should go home earlier, but he never listens to me.”

  
Melissa smiled warmly and reached to touch Jonathan’s shoulder. “John?” She whispered. He didn’t respond. She shook his shoulder and said his name a little louder. He almost fell out of the chair. Like father like son I guess. “You really should go home, Stiles is fine and if anything changes we can call you.” He winced and rubbed at the knot she knew was in his neck, “Yeah, I probably should run by the station and check for any new reports. Oh, have you had any,” he used finger quotes in the air when he said, “animal bite victims?” Melissa just shook her head no.

  
The Sheriff had a look on his face that was clear he was thinking about something deep, and then shifted from a frown to a look of resolve. “I don’t know a lot of what is going on with this whole werewolf business. I don’t understand what is going on with Scott and being an Alpha, but from what Stiles told me, Scott had a plan and something went wrong. I don’t want to try and make it sound like I am telling you what to do, but this,” He dropped his eyes to the floor, “This whole.. this,” He swallowed loudly and pressed the heels of his hands into his eyes, “Stiles…”

  
Melissa knelt down and took Jonathan’s chin in her hand lifting his eyes to her’s, “I know how you feel, Stiles’ has been in my house so often for so long that sometimes I forget that he isn’t my own son. If anything ever happened to either of you, I would feel like I was losing family.” Melissa looked over to Stiles sitting in the bed and he could see the tears welling in her eyes. “I can promise you that Scott is probably already out doing everything he can to make sure this never happens again. And he is going to be kicking himself for months knowing that he hurt you.”

  
Stiles pulled his phone off the blankets and frowned. “Any idea when we can get Scott’s phone replaced so I can text him. I know him, he isn’t going to come around until I tell him over and over that I am fine and I have to convince him that I need my brother.” Melissa stood up wiping at her eyes, “Scott has insurance on his phone, I called and reported it. He should have a replacement in a couple days, you think you can wait that long?” “No.” Stiles looked at her with a straight face. “When they let you out of observation, you are coming to stay at the house with Scott and your Dad can get some rest.” She looked back at Jonathan, “That sound okay with you?”

  
The Sheriff just shook his head yes and stood up from the chair stretching, “Will you look in on him today?” Melissa walked with Jonathan toward the door, “Before you get out of here I do have something that I need to talk to the Sheriff about.” Jonathan put his hands on the belt where all his various items were stowed and put on his serious cop face. “What now?”

  
She looked back at Stiles, “You might as well hear this too, I know how you like to try to figure things out. We have, rather we had an interesting case, where a woman was basically in a coma. She had depressed breathing and brain activity, but we couldn’t find any reason for it. A while later an identical case came in and we had the CDC come in to check for infections diseases. Nothing.” Jonathan shifted to one foot and wound his hand through the air hoping she would get to the point. “Well, anyway, last night we had six more come in. Six. I am surprised that you didn’t hear about it, but the EMTs picked them up and brought them in yesterday evening. I think that it is something supernatural and Scott is kind of distracted right now, but we need to find out a connection and figure out what is going on.”

  
The Sheriff huffed and shook his head. “I heard about the sleepers. The case files are on my desk. I had thought it might have something to do with that Jennifer Blake, but she is dead. I am going to double check to see if she has any accomplices or people she associates with. It is always something lately. I really need a vacation.” He scrubbed his hand across the stubble from not shaving this morning, “I will look into what I can. Maybe we should mention this to the resident vet?” He looked really worn out. “you will look in on Stiles for me?” “You got it Sheriff. If you run across my son, tell him his mother expects a phone call and doesn’t care whose phone he uses!” “Will do.”

  
Melissa watched as the Sheriff walked down the hallway toward the elevator. She grabbed Stiles chart and walked back in the room looking over his records. “You never did say how you are feeling.” Stiles looked up at her almost amused when she started doing her job. “Head is still swimming a little but I am not nauseated. I think that my back is going to be sore for while. Hurts pretty bad between doses.”

Melissa motioned for him to lean forward so she could get a look at his back. Stiles watched her face as she winced. “So,” Stiles began looking excited but serious at the same time, “what else can you tell me about these patients?” Melissa frowned, “Technically I am not supposed to say anything about any patients, but perhaps as long as we don’t provide names, then you can profile with pseudonym?” Stiles smiled a devious smile, “Why, Mrs. McCall, it looks like this isn’t your first merry-go-round.” She shook her head at his ridiculousness, “I will see about getting you some prescription pain medication for when you are released. You’re right, your back is going to be sore for awhile.”

* * *

  
The basement door nearly came off its hinges, WHAM BAM BAM BAM! “SAMANTHA!” BAM BAM BAM “SAM, GET UP AND WATCH YOUR BROTHER, I HAVE TO GO TO WORK!!” She rolled over in bed. The basement was pitch black even though the time on her alarm clock said it was well past nine. She was so glad that her Mom agreed to stay out of the basement and give her the privacy she wanted, but the door beating was a little crazy.

  
She flipped on her reading lamp and drug her fingers through the tangled mess of her hair. She pulled herself up in the bed and scooted to the edge, stuffed animals falling to the thick, tacky shag carpeting, slipping her feet into her huge purple monster feet slippers. She pulled the drawer of her nightstand open out of habit before shaking her head around. It was odd, she thought, first time in weeks that she didn’t wake up with a headache. She had gotten so used to things that she had just followed a routine to try to deal with them. She stood up from the mattress and stretched, the normal aches in her joints wasn’t there either. A thought popped into her head and then an argument followed. No, her mind set up a resolve, no, I will not get my hopes up that I somehow went into remission again without any treatment, that is just ridiculous. She pressed her fingers into her neck feeling for her lymph nodes. Nothing. NO, I will not get my hopes up.

  
She had been through it all before, her parents had taken her to the doctor and the crying and all the questions. Her mother had looked at her like she noticed her for the first time in years. It was month after month of hospital visits and needle sticks. She had more blood drawn than she thought that the human body had in it. She has spent night after night puking up her guts from the chemo, her hair had fell out, she dropped out of school, her body was a wreck, and finally the doctors had told her they had beat it, and she was in remission. She went through hell, but she had beat leukemia.

  
She had everything fall into place. Four months later after her Dad had left in the middle of the night, and after she spent nights listening to her mother cry over the divorce and then cry over the stack of unpaid medical bills on the kitchen table, she started noticing her lymph nodes were swollen. She decided in that very moment that she was not going to burden her mom with this again. She was working two jobs and raising her and her brother alone and she had enough to deal with. She would hide her symptoms and deal with it until she couldn’t deal with it anymore. She had a half bottle of prescription painkillers in the back of her closet for when she couldn’t take it anymore. It wasn’t depression, it wasn’t dark, she just wanted to be in control of when and how she met her end.

  
People could say what they wanted about smoking up a little pot, but it really did help with the cancer symptoms, it also helped keep her mellow when guys were jackasses. She flipped on the light overhead and sat down to put her make up on the bruise she had gotten last night when some jerk shoved past her in the alley, and bit her. Who does that shit? She huffed thinking about it. Her arm was still wrapped up under her long sleeved sleep shirt. It was a good thing that she had been so high or she would have probably chased him down and started something. She pulled her hair back looking at her forehead for what she thought would be a blossoming dark blue flower of a bruise. Her black hair had blue highlights running through it, and the short strands of her bangs fell against her pale skin. It was the only blue on her face. She didn’t have a bruise, in fact, the circles under her eyes were gone, her eyes were bright and she looked really good today… really good.

* * *

  
Allison looked up at her Dad questioningly at the sound of the doorbell, “Are you expecting someone?” Chris just shook his head and started to get up. “No, I will get it,” Allison said motioning for him to sit back down. She walked down the hall to the front door mentally preparing herself to pull a dagger from her boot if needed. She paused at the door when her hand touched the knob, drew in a slow breath and let it out. She wet her lips and pulled out her best fake smile and pulled open the door.

  
The smile fell away immediately, “Scott!? What are you doing here?” Scott grimaced not making eye contact, choosing to look at the hinges on the door, “I wanted to thank you,” he looked up like a guilty puppy. “Scott, you don’t need to thank me, I was just trying to protect everyone.” “Yeah, I know that. I just wanted to start by thanking you, but you should have put me down as soon as you found me.” Allison’s eyes widened thinking that she had felt bad about what happened, not thinking that Scott would have wanted her to have acted faster.

  
“Stiles thought that he could get through to you. We couldn’t exactly put 10 arrows in you and THEN try to talk. It was a risk we shouldn’t have taken.” Scott flushed like he was angry, “But Allison I could have killed…” his mouth hung open not finishing the sentence. “He is my best friend, almost like my brother and I nearly killed him. I know that things aren’t what they were between us, but I still care about you a lot, and I could have killed you. Any one of the people I came across in town, I could have easily killed....”

He looked back to the welcome mat. It wasn’t anger that flushed his face, it was so many other things, but the only person he was angry with was himself. “You shouldn’t have hesitated to use wolfsbane if that is what you needed to do to stop me. I don’t want our past to cloud your judgement.” She didn’t move from the doorway making it obvious that he wasn’t going to be invited in. “Was that all?” He looked back into her eyes. She was showing how tired she was from last night but still had a determined set to her jaw. Scott looked like he was steeling himself for something, “This can’t happen again. I need help to figure out how to contain myself. I thought that you and your father were the best people to talk to. I don’t care what it takes, if you need to run electric current through me, whatever needs to happen, I need to do it.”

  
Allison just stared at him for a moment. He could tell that she was thinking hard about what she wanted to do, and then she stepped back from the doorway and waved for him to come in, “I think we should sit down with my Dad and talk about this.” Scott let out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding, “I was really hoping that’s what you were going to say because honestly, I didn’t know who else to turn to.”

* * *

  
Danny was rubbing aloe gently along the deep gashes that ran across Ethan’s stomach and up his chest. Ethan was breathing shallow breaths trying not to pull on the flesh as it healed. His brow was beaded with sweat and his jaw was tight. He still had open slashes across his jaw, dangerously close to his jugular, and a deep slash across his forearm that looked like it could have nearly taken off his whole arm. Danny knew it still hurt, but he was doing everything that he was told to. He wished he could do more than just wait.

  
Times like this he was so very happy to have parents that trusted him and didn’t get into his business. His Dad had asked this morning at breakfast who he was talking to in his room earlier. Danny looked up from his scrambled eggs and winced, “Sorry, I didn’t ask, but Ethan stayed the night last night. He isn’t feeling well today and I said I would take care of him.” “Okay.” That was it. No other questions were asked. With that his Dad carried his plate to the sink and went to grab his keys to head to work. As he was heading out the door he looked at Danny and some what seriously said, “I expect you to be responsible, call me if you need anything.”

  
The morning had been pretty uneventful from that point on. He just sat there watching, caught between fascination and horror as the muscle fibers knit themselves back together and blood continued to ooze out of his wounds. Last night he thought that Ethan was dead. He just couldn’t believe that anyone could survive so much damage. The only thing that kept him calm was the fact that Aiden looked worse, and Lydia was just as calm as a seasoned veteran, and she was holding what looked like intestine from falling out. Looking back to last nights events, he was amazed at the amount of healing that already happened.

  
“Someone is outside the door.” The doorbell rang, “It’s Scott’s vet, what’s his name?” Ethan murmured through tight lips, “Deacon?” “How do you do that?” Danny said shaking his head then correcting him, “It’s Alan Deaton, I’ll be right back.” Danny rushed out of his room, down the stairs, to the door and pulled it open. Alan was looking seriously looking worse for wear. “Thank you so much for coming, hopefully we can get you home to let you rest soon.” Alan smiled. He hadn’t gotten to know Danny very well yet, but he could tell he was going to like him. “Ethan is in my room upstairs, I will show you.”

  
Alan set his bag down next to the bed and looked Ethan over. “You are looking a lot better than Aiden. He still hasn’t woke up from last night.” Ethan muttered, “He won’t, it is how his subconscious deals with it.” Alan looked confused, “I don’t understand what you mean.” Ethan turned to look at Alan, “This isn’t our first time getting slashed up. In our first pack, before Deucalion, we were basically Omegas. We were used for training, or for fun.” When he said ‘fun’ it had a dark tone, his eyes turned away from Alan’s. “He won’t come out of it until the pain is more bearable. We developed habits over time. He was always the easiest to anger and the first to talk back or jump to my defense, and I, well, I would always stay conscious to make sure he was okay.”

  
Alan pulled a syringe out of his bag and started to fill it from a vial with a bright orange liquid inside. Ethan looked quickly to Danny, the frown on his face said he didn’t like the situation. “Scott trusts him, and Lydia just sent me a text that Aiden is much more relaxed and has stopped sweating.” Alan set the syringe on the nightstand crossing his hands in his lap, “I believe in being completely open and honest, it is how to establish trust. This is a strong painkiller that I usually would only give to horses, but given your metabolism, it will not harm you. It also has a little extract of black nightshade. The nightshade is poison, but like many poisons used in medicine it will help. The nightshade will slow your metabolism without reducing your regeneration, and will help slow the synapsis along the nerve pathways. It will help the painkiller stay longer.” Ethan looked back over at Danny who was smiling weakly as he shook his head slightly. “Okay,” Ethan said, “Go ahead.”

  
Ten minutes later, Alan was gone, hopefully to go home and rest, and Ethan was asleep. Danny was sitting on his desk chair watching him breathe in and out naturally. He leaned over and kissed him softly on the forehead. “You are going to be the death of me.” He crawled on the bed next to him and lay down softly. He was out before he could even think about how Lydia was right about the sheets. They were ruined.

* * *

  
The hospital was slower than usual, thankfully no more sleepers had been brought in. Melissa had made her rounds and was about to go on break to get some lunch when a gurney came in the emergency entrance. In the litany of medical jargon she heard the words ‘large animal bite’ and started following the patient down the hallway. Patient was female, 98lbs, thirteen... That rolled around in her head and slammed against several buttons. THIRTEEN SCOTT!! you bit a tiny little girl that was only THIRTEEN. She shoved her emotions aside and tried to think about how she was supposed to get a werewolf out of the hospital without anyone noticing. The girl had lost a lot of blood and was only found a little while ago. They were already in the process of giving her fluids and blood.

  
Melissa walked to the waiting area and stood by listening to the parents talking to the officer taking their statement. Her parents had been under the impression that she had been at a friend’s house. She had walked the same path to go over to her friend’s house hundreds of times so they never worried about her walking in the dark. Her friend had thought that she had changed her mind and didn’t want to come over. They were both blaming themselves for what they thought was a horrible tragedy. They found her in a wooded area between the two houses. Her father looked broken, her mother was hysterical, and the friend had a distant look in her eye that made Melissa think she was her only friend.

  
Melissa almost ran to Stiles’ room and knocked quickly waiting to make sure he wasn’t busy, (well, you know what teenage boys are like.) before opening the door and walking in. “Woah, you look like you are freaked out, what happened?” Stiles’ eyebrows were almost in his hairline. “EMTs just brought in a bite victim.” Melissa put her hand over her mouth. “She was only thirteen years old and so tiny. They said she is stable but lost a lot of blood, so they are giving her fluids. I have no idea how to get a 13 year old girl, who knows nothing about what is going on, out of a hospital without getting caught.” The look on Stiles’ face stopped her. “What? What are you thinking? Why do you look like you are completely devastated over the fact that she is getting fluids?” Stiles pursed his lips and and let out a small sigh. “Scott had healed the next day by this time. In fact, everyone that has turned would have healed by this time.” Melissa looked dumbfounded, “But Lydia was in the hospital for days.”

  
Stiles face looked washed out, “Lydia never turned, and I think that she is a one in a million odds. Derek said if they don’t turn, the bite will kill them.” Stilles just stared at Melissa as the realization sunk in and she sat in the chair next to the bed. “Oh my God, that poor girl and Scott will never… no, she is going to make it. She has to make it.” Melissa just sat in the chair looking small and Stiles pulled back his blankets and started to get up and walk over to her. Melissa looked at him with appall, “You are not to get out of the bed. You could easily fall and hurt yourself.” Stiles pulled the covers back over his legs, “Yes Ma’am!”

  
“How’s your back feeling?” Melissa got up to adjust his blankets. Stiles blushed a little at being mothered, “Good, the medication is working well.” Melissa smoothed at Stiles’ hair, “I am going to go check on her, and you are going to stay in bed. Call button if you need to so much as pee.”

  
Stiles could see Melissa prepare herself for going back out into the hospital. She walked back out the door into the halls. As she walked over to the nurses station it had quieted back down in the halls. She leaned across the countertop trying to will herself to be calm, “Patty, what room did they put the bite victim in?” Patty just looked up at her, “Did you just get back from lunch? Girl, she is in emergency surgery.” Melissa’s heart dropped into her stomach. “She was just getting fluids and needed stitching up, how is she in surgery?” “Blood pressure dropped out the bottom, sounds like internal bleeding, but I don’t know how an animal bite would have caused all that.” Patty walked away holding a clipboard from a patient record. She obviously had a lot of work to do that she didn’t notice that Melissa’s reality was falling apart around her.

  
The counter was literally all that was holding Melissa up at the moment. She took a deep shaky breath and found her will and walked around the desk to punch out to lunch. No sense worrying about something you have no control over, but this was going to hurt Scott really badly if she didn’t make it. She thought about picking Stiles up something too, she knew how much the boy hated hospital food.

* * *

  
Scott groaned as the electricity jolted through him. The cuffs around his wrists buzzed against his skin. Allison stood on the other side of the room with a whole quiver full of arrows and Chris had his gun, wolfsbane bullet already in the chamber, on the table next to the huge battery and other assorted gadgets. “Scott, I need you to try to shift. otherwise we won’t know if the current is strong enough.” Scott felt like his ears were vibrating, but other than that, it wasn’t too uncomfortable.

  
Chris looked at him expectantly, “I can’t tell if you are trying, but it doesn’t look like you are.” Scott looked back across the room to Allison. “I’m scared I’m going to hurt someone.” Chris smiled, “It isn’t us you need to worry about getting hurt.” Allison notched an arrow in her bow and drew it back.

  
Scott took a deep breath and pulled at the wolf, he felt his claws, and then his fangs dropped filling his mouth. He looked up at Chris and he was already reaching to adjust the knobs. The gentle hum that was warming his skin changed to a buzz and the muscles in his shoulders started to tremble, his teeth retracted and so did his claws. It was working, and it wasn’t unbearably painful.

  
When Scott looked up at Allison he saw a twinge of regret. Scott fought the tremor in his jaw to say, “It’s sokay, it doesn’t hurt that much.” Chris was busy making notes, and then the power flipped off. Scott fell forward and dangled from the cuffs. He couldn’t even support his own weight in his legs. He drew several labored breaths and Chris stood up, “The current won’t kill you, but I’d rather we find a way to use this as a back up plan. You can pretend it doesn’t hurt but I know better.” Chris looked like he was about to regret something as he unlocked the cuffs and Scott dropped painfully on his knees. “I’ll get a cage, does your house have a basement?” Scott looked up from the floor and shook his head no, “But Stiles house has one. Hopefully he will let me use it if I need it.” Chris looked over his shoulder at Allison who still had a notched arrow drawn. “Plenty of time between now and the next full moon. If I do this, I want you in that cage 2 hours before the moon rises, and I will install it myself to make sure that nothing goes wrong.” Scott wobbled a little as he got up from his knees, “Let me run it by Sheriff Stilinski and Stiles and I will let you know.” He paused before adding, “You have no idea how much I appreciate this.”

  
Allison shifted and fired the arrow into a foam target in the corner. “We still have to find out what kind of mess you made last night and who if anyone you bit.” Her tone was icy. As if Scott needed someone else to kick him while he was down. He dropped his face into his hands and groaned. “I have to go check in with my Mom, she is probably worried sick. I will be in touch Mr. Argent. Allison…” He didn’t know what to say to her so he just turned to the door and headed up the stair. “I’ll walk you out.” Allison said just as he was out of view.

* * *

  
His head felt like it was full of cotton when he woke up, his throat was dry and scratchy, and it felt like the room was moving. He sat up and looked around the room. How in the world did he get from the clinic into his room at the McCall’s house? He was laying on a blood stained blanket, wrapped in crispy, dark red gauze.

  
He replayed the previous night over in his head, chasing Scott through the woods, Stiles tossing a ring of mountain ash around him and yelling his name at him over and over, Isaac missed how Scott had gotten out of the circle and barely got in between Scott and Allison. After that it was pretty much all pain, not so much physical pain, but the anguish that Scott was feeling at attacking his pack mate. The primal emotion tore into him like a spear wrapped in razor-wire.

  
When he had woke up at the clinic Deaton was there, he smelled like blood, Scott’s blood and had it been last night under the full moon Isaac might have accidentally attacked him. Deaton proceeded with wrapping him up and stopped to ask Isaac if he would like something for pain. Isaac didn’t even second guess that. He said he had to go help Scott and that Isaac should rest. Whatever was in the injection had him out in no time. The uncomfortable table in the clinic was just perfect at that moment.

  
Isaac pulled himself back into the present. He smelled at the air. Scott’s scent was the overwhelming one, it was comforting just having that part of him to calm him. Deaton’s scent was still lingering, his herbal remedy was pungent, sickly sweet smelling and the other person who smelled like gunpowder and fast-food must have been the Sheriff. Maybe Sheriff Stilinski helped Deaton carry him up to his room. He tugged at the bandage wrapped around his chest. His skin was completely healed up, but when he moved to get out of bed a twinge of pain told him that some deeper things were probably still mending. He noticed a glass of water on the nightstand and swallowed it down quickly. A note sat next to it, Isaac mentally face-palmed himself. Kinda stupid sniffing the air and guessing at who carried you upstairs when you could just pay attention to your surroundings and read the note.

  
It was from Deaton. The letter read:

Thought you would be more comfortable in a bed, and what better bed to be in than your own. Scott is doing fine. Stiles is under observation at the hospital, the twins will be out of commission for a few days. Take things easy, but you should be fine to be up and about once you wake. Stay hydrated.

  
The feeling of being a part of something like a family had him all warm and fuzzy inside. Well, warm and fuzzy and bleeding and painful.

  
He got up out of bed slowly and started unwinding the bandages from around himself. Thankfully all the blood was dry at this point otherwise he would have had to go get in the shower before taking off the gauze. Flakes of dried blood fell to the floor and finally he had all the wraps off and stuffed them in the wastebasket. He was still covered in dried blood, but it looked like everything was healed up. He decided that a hot shower was still in order and pulled off his blood-stained jeans, they were pretty much trashed, which sucked because they were his favorite pair. Scott was going to have to start buying him replacement clothing.

* * *

  
Allison was just laying in bed staring at the ceiling. She had already slept a little, amazingly her usual nightmares weren’t so bad after the real events of last night. Real life however didn’t have her Aunt’s voice narrating the blood and gore, real life didn’t have corpses piled up and rotting, and real life didn’t have Allison as the one tearing into warm flesh with her claws and teeth.

  
She had hesitated last night, her one moment of hesitation almost cost Stiles, Isaac, Aiden and Ethan their lives. She had the arrow notched, the bow was drawn and she had the shot lined up when Stiles, in his overconfident attempt to get through to Scott, had leaned inside the circle getting too close to Scott. She should have hit him then, the moment his claws gripped the front of Stiles’ hoodie, he would have dropped Stiles, still been in the circle and no one would have gotten hurt. She could hear her Aunt’s voice in the back of her mind taunting her, teasing her for thinking a filthy werewolf was good for anything other than killing. If you want to protect the innocent you have to destroy that which will eventually devour them.

  
She shook the thoughts away and continued her self deprecating analysis of her tactics the previous night. Stiles had broken the circle dragging his foot across it when he was pulled in and then thrown out of the way. Before Allison could react Scott had batted her bow away snapping the arrow in two. Isaac was there between Allison and Scott before she could blink and when his claws came down to rip across Isaac’s chest she should have been pulling her ring daggers out.

  
Laying in bed her face kept contorting into a mask of rage at every opportunity she had missed to take Scott down. She pressed her fists into the mattress to either side of her. She knew it was crazy to try to take the blame all on herself, there were several other people there. Kate’s voice chimed in, several other people who all never hesitated to react.

  
Isaac took a couple of swipes across his chest before Scott pulled back like he might be aware of what was going on. When Isaac fell to his knees she had an opening for her wolfsbane coated throwing daggers, but she missed it. Scott was faster than she had prepared for and took off into the trees. Ethan and Aiden merged and took off after him.

  
It was several minutes later before the sound of gunfire alerted them of Scott’s location. The Sheriff had found Scott tearing into the twin’s Alpha form and emptied his gun into him. Scott was getting up off his hands and knees ready to keep coming when something inside Allison finally snapped. She only stopped firing arrows when she ran out.

  
She had watched the rage build in Scott’s eyes with the first few arrows, he continued to jog toward her snarling like a wounded animal. He roared like he was calling for his pack, but his only beta was bleeding in the clearing behind them. She continued shooting while she watched him shift back to beta form and fell to his knees, maybe she should have stopped then. Maybe in his beta form he was in control. She didn’t. Every limb had at least two arrows in it, his hips and shoulders were immobilized, and several non-lethal organs were punctured. She had one arrow left, notched, drawn, and aimed for his heart when the red bled from his eyes, maybe she should have stopped, maybe she should have felt some mercy, but the warmth was gone from her blood. It flew through the air and stuck deep into thigh. Kate whispered in the back of her mind, you should have took the shot, one less mangy dog spreading it’s disease around.

  
When Scott collapsed Alan tossed a ring of mountain ash powder around him just for good measure. Then they started checking on the injured. Lydia was in shock, she was literally holding Aiden together. Danny looked panicked and his hands were shaking as he reached out not knowing where to put his hands to stop the bleeding.

  
The text notification startled her out of her dark thoughts. It was from the pack.

Stiles to Pack: Melissa found a bite victim. She hadn’t healed from last night. =/ It doesn’t look good.

Allison held her hand over her mouth and tried to push the panic back. Maybe she should have taken the shot.

* * *

  
Melissa was just pulling back in the employee parking area at the hospital, a bag with Stiles favorite curly fries, a cheeseburger and a chocolate shake were sitting next to her in the passenger seat. She had just finished explaining the situation with the girl in surgery to the Sheriff and was still on the phone with him. “I know that Scott wasn’t in control John, but it still feels so awful, and I know that Scott is going to probably go off the deep end if she doesn’t pull through.” “All we can do at this point is hope for the best and make better plans for the future. How was Stiles doing before you left?” “Did you see his back?” “No.” “It is one giant bruise. He is going to be sore for days, but he seemed to be getting over the dizziness. His battery on his phone was threatening to die so if you don’t want a hyperactive boy with nothing to do... OH! I have to go, I see Scott.” “Ok.”

  
She honked the horn and Scott whipped his head around to the car. She watched as emotions flashed across his face. At first he looked relieved to see her and then nervous and ashamed. He didn’t make any move toward the car, looked down at the ground and walked toward the hospital.

  
Melissa pulled into a space and grabbed the bag of junk food for Stiles. She caught up to him next to the entrance sitting on a bench in the landscaping. He looked like a boy with the weight of the world on his shoulders and as she sat down next to him, he looked up at her and sighed a deep breath. “Mom, I messed up, I messed up really bad.” She could tell by the set of his jaw he was trying not to cry. He opened his mouth to keep talking and Melissa put her hand up, “I have already heard all about last night Scott. You did everything you could have done. You had a plan, when something went wrong you called for help, and so far, no one has died.”

  
She put her hand on his knee and squeezed. “I am proud of you for asking for help.” Scott looked down at his lap, “I could have killed Stiles Mom… I could have killed any one of them.” “But you didn’t Scott. He has been pestering me all day about replacing your lost phone so he can text you.” She reached over to lift his chin up to look in his eyes, “Stiles really wants to see you. He doesn’t blame you. He said that you were going to beat yourself up about this for weeks and he was going to have to beat some sense into you until you came and saw him. So.. why don’t you skip the part where you avoid him for a week and go check on him now?”

  
Scott smiled a lopsided smile and looked like he was going to agree. “I do have to break some bad news to you though.” The smile fell off Scott’s face faster than Melissa could blink. “They brought in a girl from last night... she had a large animal bite on her torso. Stiles said that she should have healed by now, but she wasn’t, and he seemed to think that meant she wasn’t going to make it.” The color drained out of Scott’s face and Melissa grabbed his wrists, “They are taking care of her though.” Scott just shook his head, “Derek said, if they don’t turn, they die.”

* * *

  
Stiles growled at his phone when the alert beeped to signify his battery was less that 5 percent. It had been beeping every few minutes from fifteen percent down. He put his phone in sleep mode and noticed his cheek was still bruised. At least now he had a good cover for it. Too bad it didn’t happen before he had told most everyone that he walked into a door.  
About that time the door opened and a nurse came in with a bounce in her step. “Good news Mr. Stilinski,” the young woman had a head full of bouncing blonde curls and a bright friendly smile, “the Doc says you are in the clear and you can take a nap if you like. He thought that we could help that along by giving you some really good pain meds for your back and letting you rest for awhile before sending you home.”

  
Stiles dropped his head into the pillow, “Thank God! I have been exhausted ALL day!” The nurse pulled out a syringe and slowly injected it into the IV already hooked into his arm. “Hopefully you have learned your lesson.” Stiles perked up and looked over at her questioningly. “No more climbing trees in the middle of the night.”

  
Stiles had forgotten the cover story they had came up with involved him trying to sneak back in the house after curfew and falling out of a tree. He attempted to act bashful and replied, “Yeah, definitely learned my lesson, next time I will sneak in through the basement, less danger of falling.”

  
The nurse smiled and Stiles could feel the slight burn as the drugs flowed through his bloodstream. He leaned back into the pillow feeling the familiar pull of sleep. He pressed the power button on his phone to make sure it didn’t die pointlessly while he slept, then shut his eyes and settled into the bed.

  
The first part of his drug induced stupor was pleasant, he felt light and carefree, swirls of muted colors danced around his vision. He felt like he was going to have a nice rest and the usual nightmares he suffered through were unlikely to happen with the nice doctor’s pain medication.

  
Suddenly he felt a burning sensation across his chest. He struggled to wake up but couldn’t. He could hear a voice like many voices all talking in unison chanting a strange phrase and the ground suddenly fell out from under him and he was falling through an infinite pitch black. The harsh wind blowing all around him bit at his skin as it got colder and colder. He kept falling and falling….. he started to shiver.

* * *

  
The computer monitor was the only light on in her room as Lydia sat staring at the screen. She had her drapes pulled trying to make the room dark enough for Aiden to sleep comfortably. She had been trying to keep herself busy translating the archaic latin in the bestiary. She couldn’t watch Aiden any more.

  
She glanced over at his sleeping form in the dark room. She had been on the verge of throwing up most of the night and into the morning. She had literally held his intestines inside him last night, and she had wrapped him up with bandages, she had played the part of medic and the whole time she had ground her teeth together fighting the urge to scream. She thought that as long as she didn’t scream, maybe no one would die. She had no idea if that was how it worked. She needed to find out more about this banshee thing and fast.

  
Meanwhile, Aiden was healing, Dr. Deaton had made sure he wasn’t in pain, and there was absolutely no reason that she had to sit there and stare as his tissue regrew. It was gross, fascinating, but gross. If the fact that she had lay him on her thousand thread count designer egyptian cotton sheets didn’t say that she cared, nothing would.

  
She turned her head back to the screen. The portion of the bestiary she was looking at was something she had skipped over before because she couldn’t figure out the name at the top of the section and it bothered her enough to move on to another section. Finally she stopped trying so hard and it dawned on her, it wasn’t archaic latin. The chapter was, but the title was just Old Norse. Fendinn. Lydia mentally scolded herself for overlooking something so simple. Fendinn was like, the devil. Interesting that the Argent family was so passé.

  
The first few lines in the section sounded more like the fairy tales she had been reading. Beings born of a different realm, had powerful natural magic, dangerously intelligent, ridiculously beautiful, and thought of humans as nothing more than playthings. The bestiary was oddly very clear on their status within the code. It said to kill them, kill them quickly, kill them mercilessly and without pause. Most of the beings were burned by raw iron, druid magic was effective but not consistently and other magics had not been trusted enough to try. Fire was the suggested way to kill them. The text suggested copious amounts of hot burning fuel and included horribly outdated chemical formulas for the best fuel.

  
Lydia rolled her eyes and added her own personal fire formula for killing psycho Alpha werewolves. The rest of the section went on to include other quirks of the beings which also lined up with the fairy tales that Lydia had been reading. They stole children and replaced them with changelings, they would kill off herds of cattle or fields of crops if insulted, they would always only speak the truth but would twist it so that it might pass for a lie… the list went on and on and sounded more and more like fairies than the devil, but given the evil they did they certainly sounded like the devil.

  
She pushed herself back from the desk and thought, well, I am obviously not a fairy now. I haven’t killed off any fields of crops lately, though I am wickedly intelligent and ridiculously beautiful. She laughed to herself and rubbed lazily at her eyes to follow up with a long stretch and yawn. She still hadn’t slept from last night, but Aiden was pretty much taking up the whole bed at the angle he was laying. She huffed out a small breath and pulled a blanket out of her closet to go nap on the couch. Thank God her Mom was visiting her Grandmother this week, she had no idea what she would have told her about all this.

* * *

  
Melissa had tried her best to talk Scott into coming up to visit Stiles for a little while but he said he couldn’t handle being in the hospital right now. He told her about the smell of all the sick people and the chemicals that they used to clean things would just overpower his senses. He agreed that he would go home and stay there and that they would talk more when Melissa’s shift was over. Scott said to tell Stiles that he would come see him as soon as he got home from the hospital.

  
As the elevator opened Melissa went to step in and was ran into by a blonde in a slim fitting black business suit. “Excuse you,” the lady said coldly, eyeing Melissa with disdain. Her heels clacked sharply against the floor as she made her way to the exit. Melissa thought, what a bitch. She turned back to get in the elevator car and pressed her floor. The ride up the elevator was unnerving, but the hospital had a great surgical team and she felt good about the girl that was rushed into surgery. They would fix her and she would change, they could deal with another werewolf, Melissa cringed, she just had to live.

  
The car dinged for her floor and she took a deep breath. As soon as she stepped out of the car and looked across the hall to the nurses station, the look on Patty’s face dropped. “No.” Melissa said stepping quickly to the counter. Patty shook her head with a grimace on her face. “You just never get used to it no matter how long you work here. It is always worse when they are so young.” She looked up into Melissa’s eyes, “They lost her on the table. When the surgeon opened her up, her congenital heart defect since birth and the tissue had torn open. Would have needed a heart transplant here immediately to save her. Closest heart they had was 4 hours away.” Patty put her hand on the one Melissa had braced on the counter. “It could have happened at any time. She really would have needed a miracle to live.”

  
It dawned on Melissa what had happened. Scott had tried to save her. He had to, it was just too coincidental.

  
She pressed set the bad on the counter and pressed her hand to her mouth. After settling her nerves she looked up and tried a smile. “I got Stiles his favorite junk food.” Patty huffed almost a laugh. “Doc gave him some pain meds and okayed him to rest. He is probably out of it by now.” Melissa grabbed Stiles chart, “Aww, that is too bad. I know he hates the food here and… wait. No, it hasn’t been marked yet.” Patty stepped over, “that is odd, that new blonde girl with the curly hair took the meds from me 10 minutes ago. Looks like someone is going to have to have a talk with her about the proper procedure. Could you imagine if he got a… why are you looking at me like that.” Melissa’s mouth just hung open, “We haven’t hired any new people since Amanda and her hair is completely grey.” Patty swallowed hard and started moving toward Stiles’ room with Melissa in tow.

  
Melissa hit the door with both palms and it slammed into the wall. Stiles lay on the bed sleeping. She walked over and found the syringe laying on the table next to the bed. “She gave it to him.” Stiles’ forehead was covered in sweat and he was furrowing his brow and tensing his lips in his sleep.

  
Melissa noticed the blanket pulled down and Stiles hospital gown was cut open. She pulled back the fabric and a black goo was drawn across his chest making odd symbols. The skin around the goo was reddened and blotchy. With one hand she reached for his wrist checking his pulse, with the other she was dialing her phone, she said, “Don’t touch anything Patty, I am calling the Sheriff.” and Dr. Deaton she thought. Stiles’ pulse was racing like he was running a marathon. About the time the Sheriff answered Stiles mumbled, “No…. Noooooo..”

* * *

  
The TV was playing some lame lifetime type movie that had came on after the cartoon, that had came on after the movie Isaac had originally stopped to watch. He felt pretty good considering he had just had his rib cage nearly opened up last night. The internal pain was pretty much gone, evident from the fact that he didn’t wince when he hopped up to grab a soda from the fridge in the middle of the cartoon. He was actually feeling pretty relaxed when suddenly he felt like he was so mad at himself, worried and anxious about something he couldn’t really define. Scott’s scent hit him just before the door opened.

  
Isaac just snapped jumping off the couch to step closer to the door. “NO!” Scott looked like he had been slapped. “You are not going to walk around here blaming yourself for what happened last night. Everyone knows that you had a plan and that plan fell through, No one could have known how you were going to react to your first Alpha shift and everyone is fine. I healed, Aiden and Ethan will, and Stiles is fine too! You need to get your head out of your ass and just deal with the fact that shit happens.” He took in a deep breath and continued yelling, “I bet you already came up with another plan, a better plan for the next full moon.” Scott just shook his head agreeing but not about to interrupt Isaac’s rant. “And I don’t know if you realize it or not but you are fucking smothering me with your emotions!! I never had to deal with this shit with Derek, and I don’t understand it but I can feel every fucking emotion you feel and you are absolutely killing me! You are killing me!”

  
Scott blinked several times and opened his mouth, took a deep breath and huffed it out, then closed his mouth again. Isaac turned around walking back to the sofa to sit down angrily. Scott walked in and sat down on the sofa next to him. Isaac turned to look at him, his face softened and he softly said, “I didn’t have to deal with any of this with Derek. I think maybe I didn’t think of him as my Alpha, it was hard to trust him. It feels different with you. And I don’t know why, I really want to just hug you right now. Can we just do that without making it weird?” Scott leaned into Isaac and he wrapped his arms around Scott tucking his chin into Scott’s neck. They both breathed a small sigh. Scott murmured into Isaac’s shoulder, “I am still new at this, but your scent is really relaxing and comforting. Please tell me this isn’t weird.” Isaac whispered, “shhhhh… just shhhh.”

* * *

 

  
Ethan was breathing softly on the bed next to Danny as he tapped away at the keys on his laptop. Ethan was looking much better, the open wounds were closed and even though he was striped with gagged red and smooth pink lines, he was healing well. Danny had woke him earlier to make him groggily drink some gatorade before he went back to sleep.

  
Danny thought that since he had already slept and wasn’t going anywhere, he might as well see what he could do about Stiles request. He had took it upon himself to get Marin’s cell phone number from Dr. Deaton before he left. Alan had eyed him suspiciously at first and Danny said he was following through on a hunch and not to get his hopes up, but the less he knew about what he did was probably for the better. Alan had just smiled knowingly and giving him her number. And since Ethan was completely out of it, he didn’t feel too guilty looking through his cell to get a number for Deucalion. Stiles might have mostly been interested in where Derek went, but he did have a point about the three of them all disappearing without a trace.

He was busy reading through the security script looking for the backdoor the programmers would have used to access the software for updates. He had already routed his connection through several other servers all the way across the state, and was using a program to flip the ip address at random. It wasn’t exactly black hat computer hacking, but he didn’t want another page in his juvenile file if he got caught. Luckily he was still seventeen and unless it was federal or stealing credit card info, he wouldn’t be able to be prosecuted as an adult.  
Programs were all running different processing at once, one was running a ghost hacking program in a different portion of their network while he was working in this one. Another program was cracking the admin passcode while he tested the firewall for any weaknesses. He had been in this network before and their security was actually quite lax until you started trying to access the sectors where customer payment information was stored.

  
The cracker program finished with the password and he was in. He had to turn off the ip flipper to keep from throwing up any red flags. He needed to try to get the gps coordinates and get out before the actual admin signed in under the same password. He started with Marin’s because as much as he wanted Stiles to feel better about Derek’s whereabouts, the odds are that Marin was the only one who was actually missing. He copied the last known location for her cell and put in Derek’s phone info. He quickly copied the last location for Derek’s cell and then typed in Deucalion’s information. He was just copying the location info for Decalion when his program alerted that he was being tracked.

  
He was done but he was somewhat impressed that someone had caught on so quickly. He almost wanted to see if they could find him in less than 5 minutes. He watched the program alerts pop up for the tenth reroute in under ten seconds, the ninth in six seconds. They were good. He turned the program back on to start randomizing the ip addresses and wrote in fake script to lead them off the trail toward the university network and a network at a medical research facility before he cut the connection between the seventh and sixth reroute and closed out all the software, even going so far as disconnecting the wireless.

  
He tossed the laptop on the blanket next to the bed and let out a huff. It was kind of exhilarating to feel the rush of getting away with something so risky. Then his cell phone chimed.

Unknown number: You think you can get away that easily?

Danny stared down at the screen. He licked his lip and swallowed. How would they have been able to track him back and find his phone number? He started to type out a quick, ‘Who is this?’ as a reply, and the phone rang. It was loud in the quiet room. Ethan shifted and a hum escaped through his nose. Danny answered out of panic but didn’t say anything. “Let’s not play games,” the man’s voice was low but pleasant, “I am not with the phone company’s security team, so you can mark that off your list. And if you are wondering how I found you so fast, I was watching your communication from the first server you routed through at the college.”

There was a pause, Danny still hadn’t even breathed heavy. “Pretty impressive gray hat work, for a kid. I’m not interested in busting you, I am interested in finding someone that you seem to be looking for also.” Danny couldn’t help but swallow loudly and say, “Who is this?” The man on the other end of the phone took a deep breath, “That isn’t important. Interesting list of phone numbers. He started naming them off; Marin Morrell, Derek Hale, and Deucalion, better known as the Demon Wolf.” A gasp escaped Danny’s mouth before he could stop himself. The smile on the man’s face could be heard through the phone as he continued, “I thought a hacker looking for a Druid and two werewolves must be in the loop. This means we can skip story time and get down to business. You don’t want this trace reported to the police, you will notify me as soon as you find Deucalion. He and I have some unfinished business.”

  
The phone line went dead. “Shit!” Danny sat on the corner of the bed. What the fuck have you gotten me into now Stiles!!

* * *

  
The Sheriff was pacing back and forth in a ridiculously small space in the corner of the hospital room. The report had been filed, one of his deputies had taken a description of the blonde woman from several of the nurses, they tried in vain to lift prints from the syringe and the vial of drugs, they took photos of the goo and a sample of the substance. None of it was making any sense so far.

  
Stiles was stable, and from what the lab could tell, the medicine in the syringe was just the normal medicine that he was supposed to have gotten. The doctor worried that he had been too hasty in saying that Stiles could rest, they thought he might have swelling on his brain and took him to get a CAT scan. Everything on the test looked normal. If the situation were less dire John would have laughed at his son’s brain scan’s coming back normal.

  
Alan walked through the door and wrung his hands nervously. He looked across the room to the Sheriff, “Sorry it took me so long to get here, it has been a hectic day.” He turned to smile weakly at Melissa, “You have pictures of the script you told me about on the phone?” Melissa stepped over to the bed where Stiles was still fitfully sleeping, “No need to look at pictures, it is pretty much burned into his skin.”

  
The Doctor moved over to the bed and pulled the hospital gown back to look at the symbols. The first looked like a horned number three turned to the side with an accent mark over it and a long tail on the loop. The second mark was two vertical lines like a wide set eleven, the top of the lines were joined by an overlapping x, the line to the left had a triangle on its foot, the line to the right had a small tail. The third mark was flowing like a cursive letter, the lines crossed over each other again and again making a shape that looked like a flame.

  
Alan rubbed his fingertips gently across the inflamed skin. Stiles mumbled, “please…no, don’t.” It startled Alan a little and he pulled his hand back. Jonathan stepped up to touch Alan’s shoulder, “Do you know what it says?” Alan didn’t mean to be cryptic, it was almost like a delay tactic, he didn’t want to tell the Sheriff what it was. “It doesn’t … say, anything.” He cleared his throat. “Runes are not like words, each rune can have many different meanings and uses. They are dangerous to use because you might intend for them to do one thing, but they will end up doing another.” He paused and looked back into the Sheriff’s eyes, “They don’t say anything, but what they mean when used in this way, and in this order is basically a trial by fire.” He looked over to Melissa, “runes similar to these are the reason Scott’s door rusted off its hinges. I found the edge of one at the bottom of the door, and this black sludge was mixed in with the flakes of rust.”

  
The Sheriff spoke a little louder than he intended, “So what does trial by fire mean?” Alan crossed his arms across his chest and dropped his head down looking at the blankets. “It means that someone with powerful magic is testing Stiles. He will either pass his test, or he will never wake up from his nightmares.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't have any life experience with hackers or computers really, the portion with Danny was the best I could come up with off the web searches I did online for hacking terminology.


	3. Infinite Black

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The wounded lick their wounds while Stiles' condition is still unsettling. Beneath his furrowed brow Stiles takes a trip down into a less than wonder land.  
> Scott continues to get a handle on the pack's emotional bond while Allison meets a supernatural thought long destroyed and reconsiders the definition of what being a monster really means.  
> Lydia finds that her past has been all just an illusion and struggles to find footing in her new mindset.  
> Stiles struggles with the trial of shadows and the deeper into the abyss he delves, the more he considers letting it have him.
> 
> Peter spends his time away from Beacon Hills trying to find signs of his family or where they might have went.

 

Stiles pulled his Jeep into a space in the school parking lot, the sun was shining and the weather was great, a slight breeze blew through the air. He hopped out the door of his jeep and grabbed his bag to toss over his shoulder. Scott was there next to him out of no where, “Hey dude, you missed out on some awesome mario kart last night, I was kicking butt and Isaac kept whining about it.” Stiles laughed, “Yeah, sorry I missed, I was… “ His brain felt fuzzy around the edges. Scott punched his shoulder playfully, “Come on we are going to be late again and you know Harris is not going to go easy on you.” Something pulled at the back of his mind. “That guy seriously hates me!”

They walked up the sidewalk and Erica walked by bumping into Stiles shoulder smiling playfully over at him, “Hey Batman, you and me still on for tonight.” Stiles drew his face into a confused grin, “Huh?” Erica reached over to tweak the tip of his upturned nose, “you and me, pizza, seven o’clock… you forgot already? gee Stiles, you know how to make a girl feel special.” Stiles slowed down and grabbed Scott’s arm pulling him back. Scott turned around to look at him questioningly. “What’s up?” Scott stood waiting. Stiles felt like he was swaying a little, like the ground was tipping back and forth. “Scott, does anything feel off to you?”

Scott laughed heartily, “I know it is hard for you to deal with the fact that Erica is all about her some Stiles, but seriously, she has been on your lap for weeks, get used to it.” He shoved him playfully before grabbing his wrist and pulling him down the sidewalk toward the entrance, “I still have to stop by my locker and get my inhaler before class. Come on.”

As they walked through the hallway toward the lockers, Jackson grabbed Stiles’ shoulder, “Don’t be late for practice. IF you think you are going to make first string this year, you are going to have to have some serious improvement.” He slapped Scott in the back of the head, “That goes double for you asthma boy!” Scott jerked his locker open, “God, Jackson is such a douche!” He pulled his Chemistry book out and grabbed his inhaler. “We got time to use the toilet before class.” Stiles didn’t need to go but walked with Scott anyway.

He leaned against the sink as Scott used the urinal, “You know dude, Erica isn’t going to keep hanging around if you can’t remember when you set a date.” “Funniest thing is, I don’t even remember asking her, I don’t even remember her liking me.” Scott zipped up and walked over to the sink next to him. “Are you feeling alright?” He turned on the sink and started washing his hands, “Erica and you were making out at the party the other night at Lydia’s.” Stiles looked down at his hands and noticed his palms were coated in something dark and turned on the faucet to wash his hands. “I thought after Lydia broke your heart that you were going to be a crybaby, but you haven’t been.” The door banged open and Danny walked in. Stiles jerked his head to look at the initial shock of the noise. Danny’s eyes met Stiles’ and he looked hurt, he turned toward the urinal and then turned back, “I guess since you were making out with Erica last night at Lydia’s that what we did was just, what, a hook-up? It didn’t mean anything to you?” Danny stood looking at Stiles waiting for an answer, Stiles didn’t have a clue what he was talking about and was about to say so when Boyd walked in the door. Boyd started to walk toward Stiles, his hands were clenched into fists and Scott stepped in between them. “Just calm down, let’s not do anything crazy, okay?” Boyd just looked down at Scott, his jaw was flexing, “Erica can be a slut if she wants, but ….”

The conversation drifted into the background and Stiles turned back to the sink. The black was coloring the water, but it wasn’t washing off his hands. It wasn’t coloring the water black though, the water was running off a dark red. He kept scrubbing his palms together, harder and harder, but it wouldn’t come off. He looked up to get some soap from the dispenser next to the mirror, but stopped when he looked into his reflection.

The Stiles in the mirror stared back at him with pitch black, soul-less eyes. At first his reflection’s expression matched his own shocked dismay, his mouth hung open, his eyebrows were raised. The Stiles in the mirror slowly raised his hands up to press against the glass, long thin, black fingernails grew out of his hands, screeching out a rasping noise as they scratched against the glass. A devious smile every so slowly spread across his reflection’s face and Stiles gripped the edge of the sink unable to move.

Stiles watched his reflection in horror as it stepped back from the mirror and behind the reflection of Scott as he pressed his hands against Boyd’s chest. The smile on the face of Stiles’ reflection split into a razor toothed grin, his eyes grew wide with excitement and he reached around Scott’s body and ripped his nails across Scott’s throat bathing Boyd in Scott’s blood. Stiles’ reflection never broke eye contact with Stiles. Blackness crowded the edge of his vision and he felt himself falling backward.

His throat felt raw from screaming. “NOOOOOOOooooooo…..” He stopped. “Scott,” he whimpered a broken cry. He fell to his knees and cradled his head in his hands turning in on himself. He was back in the hospital hallway. It was always the hospital. The power was out, the halls were deserted and covered in filth, the walls were growing mold and water was leaking through the ceiling. Roots were growing down from above and all along the walls. Bloodstained gurneys were laying in various states of disarray and pushed against walls through out the walkway. He knew he was dreaming. There was no doubt. It felt like he had been dreaming for forever, but he couldn’t wake up. He had pinched himself, he screamed and smacked himself in the head. He even remembered finding an elevator door stuck open, the long dark shaft was empty, the car must have been some floors above. He jumped. He wasn’t spared the excruciating pain, but he had found himself back in this very spot. Every time he would escape from this place, the darkness inside him would come find him and drag him back here kicking and screaming.

He looked down at his hands in the dim light filtering in through the windows, his hands were still covered in Scott’s blood. It was still warm, it would never wash off. He could remember them all now, he could remember watching from his own eyes as her revelled in putting his hand into Allison’s chest. He had felt a sick satisfaction at watching the life fade from her eyes at the blood from her heart flowed down his arm. He had been powerless to stop it. Death after death, he watched his friends die by his own hands.

He leaned forward and threw up black viscous vomit, strings of it clung to his mouth. It was inside him, but he had to fight it. He got up slowly, his legs trembled as he tried to walk. He started toward the end of the hall. He didn’t know where he was headed, but it made as much sense as anywhere else. He could hear his father whispering from somewhere in the hospital, “It’s all your fault Stiles, It’s all your fault.”

* * *

 

The awkward, somewhat spooning pile that Scott and Isaac had woke up in on the couch, and the strange contented feeling welling in Scott’s chest was less important when Scott answered his phone and Melissa was on the other end somewhat hysterical. “Scott, something happened to Stiles. The Sheriff and Deaton are on their way here, but I really think you should come see him now.” The words ‘while you still have a chance’ hung in the air unsaid. Isaac easily hearing the conversation just shook his head that he was ready to go.

That was earlier and now Scott was listening the race of Stiles’ heartbeat as he sat next to the hospital bed. He had already tried to feel responsible for not going to see Stiles earlier and being in the room before the fake nurse had done what ever magic she had done, but Isaac literally growled at him in the hospital room. Luckily everyone there already knew about werewolves. Scott didn’t even have to ask what the growl was for but started to defend himself, “But, If I would have been here, maybe…” Isaac interrupted him, “she would have just waited until later. It wasn’t just a coincidence that she knew where you were planning to lock down for the full moon, she has been watching us and planning this for who knows how long.” Scott just sighed laying his head against the sheets.

They had been there all evening and every time Stiles would murmur a pained cry, Isaac would flinch at the feeling of Scott’s guilt. The nurses came by every hour or so to check Stiles’ vitals and Scott couldn’t help but watch them warily. Melissa had gone home looking like she might fall out at any second and the Sheriff, who was on shift through the night, had been kind enough to drive her. So, it had just been the three of them. Scott could feel that this was his whole pack. Everyone else played a part, and they all tried to help, and his Mom was his family, but his instincts told him that Isaac and Stiles were the only ones that were mystically linked to him in a pack bond. He reached up to take Stiles’ hand and gripped it softly while watching Stiles’ mouth twitch with words unsaid. Isaac scooted his chair closer and leaned into Scott’s shoulder. “He is going to make it.” Isaac whispered. “Stiles is stronger than he looks.”

Alan had told Scott about the connection between the rusted door hinges and Stiles’ current condition. He felt somewhat better that the door had definitely not been something he overlooked. Someone had purposely used magic and ruined his plans to contain himself during the last full moon. Alan said he believed that it was also some kind of test to see if Scott was in control. He was no longer feeling guilty, he was pissed. If someone wanted to test Scott, he was going to make sure he aced the test.

Melissa had looked like she was trying to avoid adding another weight to his shoulders but the Sheriff saw the look on her face and chimed in to tell Scott about the sleepers. Scott watched as something in Deaton’s eye had sparked at the mention of the six sleepers and the description of them. He called Deaton out on it and he admitted that he had a theory and had promised to look into anything he could do to help. The look that his Mom was still holding something back was still there, but Scott couldn’t care at the moment. He just wanted his best friend to wake up.

Scott started to understand what Derek must have felt like. Not only was he trying to live some semblance of an existence, but life just kept throwing things at him over and over. Derek came to Beacon Hills looking for his lost sister, found a newly bitten werewolf, a family of werewolf hunters, his dead sister, his psycho burn ward uncle, and the list just kept going and going. He took on the responsibility of three teenage werewolves, life handed him a Kanima to deal with, a pack of Alphas stroll into town and his girlfriend turns out to be a Darach. It seemed like he had yet to catch a break. Scott started to worry that even if Derek found a new place to live, he would never escape the relentless onslaught. He wondered if that was his path to follow now.

Isaac sighed, “You are doing it again.” Scott leaned his head into Isaac, “Sorry, I’m trying, I really am.”

* * *

 

The rental car agreement said it was a non-smoking car, but the lingering stench of stale smoke wafted through the air every time he moved in his seat. The stale smoke wasn’t so bad until it mixed with the greasy fast food scents and the body odor from previous occupants. It was pretty much the only option since he had flown to New York in the hopes of catching Derek and Cora faster.

He was still simmering his rage at finding nothing in New York but he had one other place that had been mentioned to him by one of Laura’s friends. Peter with his natural charm and charisma had gotten lots of their friends to open up and talk about them to their poor distraught Uncle. He had fabricated the story that he had just recently been released from the hospital, a coma that had lasted years, and now he desperately needed to find his lost family.

Laura’s friend Rebecca had looked like she didn’t want to tell him anything about the farm in upstate New York that they moved to, she smelled like she was holding back a dark secret. It was only after Peter leaned in close and flashed his blue eyes at her that she swallowed with realization. Her eyes had shot around the room making sure that no one was looking and whispered, “They found a large pack upstate near Lake Placid. Laura wanted Derek to stay there while she looked into something. She never would tell me what it was about, but we were close, I knew a little about the… about what she was.”

Peter wasn’t looking forward to dealing with another pack, but he figured it wouldn’t hurt to have a short conversation with their Alpha. He would have to mind his p’s and q’s and make sure not to tell any lies. Not lying was something Peter was good at, he could twist the truth around on itself and make it mean just what he wanted to without ever telling a lie.

He scooted back in the seat and the stale smoke stench fogged into the air again, he pressed the button for the window and regretted it immediately. Somewhere up the highway was a truck full of livestock. Sometimes being a werewolf had serious drawbacks.

* * *

 

“Glad to see that you are finally awake.” Lydia came in the room carrying a tray of food. She must have gotten tired of laying around at some point because she looked showered and dressed, her hair was curled and pulled back. “I noticed you moving around quite a bit more and thought you were coming out of it. So, I got you some food, you have to be starving.” Aiden still looked groggy as he sat up wincing at the pain, “How long?” Lydia smiled. “You have been asleep for a little over a day, some of that might have been due to the shot that Deaton gave you, but you are healing up quite-.” Aiden’s face changed slightly, drawn tight like he was suddenly pissed, it gave Lydia pause. “Since you were unconscious at the time, I thought you would trust I was doing what was best for you and gave Deaton consent.” Aiden’s face didn’t change. Lydia frowned slightly feeling put out. “I don’t trust him,” Aiden said looking up at her like a pouting 4 year old. “Well,” Lydia’s voice developed a bit of an edge, “considering I held your organs inside you last night, helped carry you back to my room, performed various and might I add disgusting, first aid acts on you AND ruined my expensive designer sheets, I would think you would trust ME.”

Aiden just lay there looking stunned. “No, I’m sorry,” Lydia said softening, “You have had a rough night and you are waking up, probably still in pain, and you are definitely grouchy from being hungry. But!” She snapped, “I also had a rough night wondering if my boyfriend was going to live through the night or I was going to have to explain to my mother why I had a corpse in my bed, and since you are now not in any immediate danger of dying, I am going to leave you this.” She sat the tray on the bed next to him a little more roughly than she intended and sloshed some of the soup out of the bowl, “And I am going out to Allison’s. I am about to go insane from being cooped up in this house watching your skin grow. I will be back later to check in on you. Remote is on the nightstand. Deaton said it was important to stay hydrated.”

Aiden’s mouth was opening and closing like he was about to say something, but Lydia just grabbed her bag and walked out the door. He looked down at the steaming bowl of beef and vegetable soup. There was powerade and a grilled cheese sandwich too. He was hungry, and probably grouchy, and he was definitely still in pain. He looked down to his chest, it was a mess. His wounds were in various states of healing, some pink lines, others were still red and angry looking. Scott had nearly killed him. He suddenly wanted to talk to Ethan and make sure he was okay, he couldn’t believe that he hadn’t thought to ask Lydia before growling about a stupid shot that had probably helped him rest. He huffed out a frustrated breath. Great job stupid, a beautiful girl saves your ass and sits with you all night watching over you and the first thing you do is growl at her.

He looked around, his pants were on the floor next to the bed. He reached for them but had to close his eyes at the feeling of his wounds pulling open. “shit.” He thought to himself, If you hadn’t run Lydia off she would be here and probably would be handing you your pants. He lay back against the pillows and decided he would just eat his soup for now.

* * *

 

Danny’s phone chimed a message from Lydia.

 

Lydia to Danny: Aiden is awake and being a prat. Keep an eye out for any calls from him, I have to go over to Allison’s for a bit.

 

He looked over at Ethan sitting up on the bed reading a mystery novel that Danny had read, what seemed like a million years ago. “Your brother is awake.” He looked away from the pages and looked a little relieved. “How is he doing?” Danny looked back at his phone and then cocked an eye at Ethan. “Lydia said he is being a prat. So, I am not really sure.” Ethan smiled, “Yeah, he is usually a grouch when he wakes up. He will feel guilty about it and start being extra nice in no time.”

A knock at the bedroom door made Danny jump. His dad pushed the door open and peeked around the edge. “I just wanted to check in on you. Is everyone doing okay?” Danny felt lucky that he had gotten a chance to change the sheets and Ethan had put on a shirt to cover the remaining claws along his chest. He smiled and tried for nonchalant, “Yeah, he seems to be feeling better.” His dad was paused in the doorway one foot still in the hall. “You can come in if you want, its not like we are naked, playing twister.” His Dad stepped in chuckling at the joke, it was awkward because Danny had meant to have a dinner with Ethan over to properly introduce them to his family, but he hadn’t accomplished that, and now, the first time his Dad got to meet his boyfriend, he was laying in Danny’s bed.

“Nice to finally lay eyes on the boy Danny won’t stop texting at the dinner table.” Great, Danny thought, his dad was trying to play the embarrassing parent card. “Since you are sick I guess I should hold off on the vague threats to your life if you ever hurt my son, but really, who does that stuff anymore.” He punched Danny’s arm, “Besides, my son is quite the heartbreaker, so maybe I should be warning you.” He rocked on his heels for a minute before rubbing his hands together nervously, “Well, I just wanted to give you a heads up, your Mom and I are headed out to her favorite Italian place.” Danny piped up, “Tonight IS date night isn’t it? Is it okay if I order pizza for me and Ethan.” His Dad smiled, “Just remember the rules, feed a cold, starve a fever. Or is it the other way around? Anyway, we will be home late so don’t wait up.”

At that he walked out into the hall leaving the door open. Danny walked across the room to push the door closed. “Whole house to ourselves and my boyfriend is broken.” Ethan looked up slightly shocked. “I guess its a good thing I like you for more than just your smoking physique.”

* * *

 

Allison was staring out the glass storm door on the balcony. She had originally looked outside earlier because she couldn’t shake the feeling that someone was watching her. She had been standing in the kitchen washing up the dishes from a late lunch, or early dinner, and a chill ran down her spine. Their condo was on the second floor, but you could still see the lot through the windows, and it had a great view from the balcony. Allison was wishing now that they were higher up. Chris had fallen asleep watching the TV and Allison almost wanted to argue with Lydia when she said she wanted to talk to him about something in the bestiary. Like almost always, once Lydia decided she wanted something, you pretty much couldn’t talk her out of it.

The whole day and the previous night had been too stressful and Allison really just wanted to run away from it all, but, she sighed, her family was the only thing between things that go bump in the night and the everyday people in Beacon Hills.

She pushed the door closed and stepped back in the kitchen to sit at the table. Chris had plotted the hunter family murders on a map and it was pretty clear the latest put the serial killer on a direct route to this area. She wondered if the Sheriff had any idea that a killer was on the rampage and was going to be in the area. About the time she expected Lydia to call and say she was stopping to get Starbucks on the way, her phone chimed. She pulled it out getting ready to type in her favorite flavor coffee, but it turned out it wasn’t Lydia.

 

Alan Deaton to Pack: Stiles is in a magic induced coma, someone has attacked him. Pack is being observed. I hate to stress you all, but everyone should heal quickly and be vigilant.

 

Alan to Allison: Both Scott and Stiles are being tested. The only other link to the Nemeton is you. Be careful.

 

Allison’s skin crawled with goosebumps. She thought about her Aunt and her nightmares. Maybe that was what Deaton was talking about. She needed to get with him and talk about what had been going on. She thought about Stiles, it would probably be safer if they all stayed clear until they knew what was happening.

The doorbell made her jump out of the chair. She huffed out a breath. “I need a fucking vacation.” As she walked to the door she mumbled, “I guess this means no coffee.” As she opened the door the person on the other side wasn’t who she expected. He was tall and thin, his skin was paler than Stiles and he was dressed in black jeans and a black henley.

“Hello Allison. Sorry I didn’t bring coffee, I didn’t realize it was expected.” Allison froze. Her ring daggers were tucked into her boot, but she wasn’t sure if she needed them. There was no way he should have been able to hear her through the door. He lifted his eyebrows smiling politely, “May I come in?”

Chris stepped up behind Allison. “No, you may not.” The smile melted off the man’s face. He pressed his hands together in front of him, his knuckles made an impressive array of cracks. “Oh Chris, you know as well as I do that I’m not really physically bound to follow that ridiculous rule. I was merely being polite and attempting to follow social convention.” He stepped into the room and stopped, like he was proving a point. Chris pulled Allison back toward him with her elbow, “What do you want Alexander?” Allison sucked in a breath. Her father knew this guy and seriously didn’t like him. That made him dangerous in the most serious definition of the word. Alexander smirked, “Please, call me Alex, so glad you remember me.” His voice went from polite almost cheerful and shifted to dark, “It will make all this go so much more smoothly.” Allison could hear her father swallow behind her. Alex moved past Allison smoothly, he moved like a snake as he sank into a chair at the kitchen table. “I was actually just in the area tying up loose ends and I have ran into a little bit of a snag. I was hoping that you might be of assistance.” Chris didn’t let go of Allison’s elbow or move from the spot. Alex looked up from the maps back to the two of them standing in the walkway, “Chris, you aren’t being a very good host. If I had I come to kill you, you would have been dead before you had time to eat your pasta.” He turned back to the maps on the table, “I see you have been admiring my work. Come, sit down, you and I have some things to discuss.”

The doorbell rang. Allison looked back at her father, panic was in her eye. Alex’s voice perked up, “What an interesting turn of events. If you don’t want anyone to be hurt, I would suggest you let the young lady in and acting as calm as possible.”

Allison pulled a shaky breath in and tried to look calm. She stepped over to the door and pulled it open, “Since you couldn’t be bothered to answer my text, I got you what you usually order and I picked up black coffee for your dad.” It was her mock exasperation voice, but she still seriously hated when Allison didn’t reply to her text messages. “I wasn’t sure how your Dad took his coffee so I got a couple different creamers and-”, She looked up at the table, Alex smiled politely. “Oh, I am so sorry,” Lydia said holding the coffee out to Allison while still looking at Alex, “I didn’t know you had company, I would have offered to bring something for them as well.”

Alex stood and offered his hand to Lydia, “How kind of you, that is the first consideration I have been offered all evening.” Lydia stepped across the room to take his hand and Allison sucked in a breath. Lydia stopped just short of touching his hand and turned to throw a puzzled face at Allison. She looked over to Chris’ drawn expression, then back to Allison’s. Allison watched as realization passed across Lydia’s eyes, then face formed its usual perfect smile as she turned back to face Alex.

“So nice to meet you, Lydia Martin.” She reached out her hand to grip his softly. Alex smiled warmly and replied, “You will have to forgive me for not wishing to share my name with you, but you can call me Alex.” Lydia could feel something in the handshake, reserved strength or a humming of power. She was confused at what he meant but just tried to let it slide. “I assume that you are needing to talk with Mr. Argent,” Lydia said brightly, “Allison and I were going to watch a movie and do pedicures, so we will just get out of your way.” Alex could hear the lie but was enjoying the performance. He smiled, “Don’t let us old men keep you from your fun.” Lydia grabbed Allison’s wrist and pulled her into the other room.

“Chris, it is interesting to me that your heart has been racing since your daughter opened the door for me, but you have no problem with Ms. Martin dropping off coffee,” he chuckled a little, “but no matter. Now that I have your undivided attention, I want to know where you are hiding your father?”

 

Lydia shut the bedroom door and wondered if whispering would be enough to keep the man in the kitchen from hearing them. “What is going on?” Allison looked like she really wanted to go back in there with guns blazing but was too scared to. “That man, my Dad seemed like he knew him and he acted like he was really seriously dangerous. I don’t think he is a werewolf, but he basically just admitted to killing several hunters or group of hunters. I have no idea what he would be or how to even attempt to take him down, but my Dad didn’t seem to even want to attempt anything.”

Lydia looked panicked, “should we go back out there for reinforcements?” Allison looked like she was about to grab the door knob when the door swung open. Both of the girls screamed, and Chris jumped back. “He is gone. He was looking for Gerard, he is no longer at the hospice center. If we don’t find him first, Alex is going to kill him.” Allison just stood there for a second. Chris looked at her expectantly, “Are you coming?”

Allison finally opened her mouth, “I don’t even know what he is or if we could or should be stopping him from killing Gerard.” Chris stepped back into the door frame, “We protect those who can’t protect themselves. Gerard can’t protect himself from a vampire.” Lydia twisted her head around, “I thought the vampires were wiped out?” Chris scowled, “That is probably why Alex is here, the elders were the only possible survivors, and Gerard’s hunting party was the group that tried their best to kill them all. Alex wants his revenge.”

* * *

 

Melissa was wondering who would be ringing the doorbell at this hour as she pulled the door open and Jonathan looked rough. Other than working third shift, the stress with everything happening with Stiles was wearing on him, and you could tell. He rubbed his hand down his face and managed a weak smile. “I figured that you would need a ride to work after I dropped you off yesterday. Sorry, I guess I should have called but honestly I just remembered dropping you off on the way home.” Melissa had planned on calling Scott and having him drive her car back to drive herself to work, but this was a nice gesture. “I’m not quite ready to go, but I sure wouldn’t mind a ride Sheriff.” She opened the door and beckoned him to come in with a wave of her hand. “Melissa, you know you can call me John, we might as well be family by now.” Melissa hoped the twitch of a smile on her lips wasn’t too obvious. Jonathan was a good man, he was an honest man, he was a handsome man, she had grown fond of him over the years and it seemed like an unspoken agreement that they weren’t going to talk about the elephant in the room when it came to the attraction. Melissa was sure that the gold wedding band Jonathan still wore meant that he wasn’t ready to move on. “Make yourself at home, I still need to blowdry my hair, I shouldn’t be but a few minutes.”

It was only a few minutes later, if by a few she had meant nearly an hour, but the Sheriff didn’t mind. He honestly didn’t want to go home to an empty house and think about his son laying in a hospital bed, and he had gotten his fill of watching Stiles fitful sleep yesterday. He had called Scott several times through the night to check on Stiles, but it was always the same. He wished that he could do something to help, he hated that Stiles was in this alone.

Melissa finally came down to find the Sheriff asleep in the recliner. She pulled a blanket over him and pulled out her phone to call the hospital. No way was she waking him up now, he looked too peaceful. She felt silly when she realized that she had spent extra time fixing her hair and putting on makeup in hopes of impressing Jonathan.

She asked for Stiles room and Isaac answered. Scott was sleeping in the bed next to Stiles and Isaac said it was too adorable for words. He had taken several photos on his phone. “I’ll be glad to come pick you up Mrs. McCall, I am pretty tired and thinking I want to crash in my own bed. I should be there in a few minutes.”

She figured that the day was going to be a long one and went to the kitchen for another cup of coffee. She leaned against the counter. She still hadn’t told Scott that the girl had died, with everything else that was happening yesterday, she couldn’t bring herself to lay that on his shoulders as well. She would have to tell him eventually, but she hoped that she could make him see what she had seen. Somehow, even though Scott was completely overcome with the instincts of the wolf, he had still managed to try to save the girl’s life. She would have died anyway, a sudden death with no chance, Scott had tried to give her a chance.

* * *

 

The room looked like Gerard had just left. He hadn’t taken anything noticeable and they were coming up empty on where he might have been heading. Chris looked at Allison like he had something to suggest but then stopped. He pointed to his mouth, then around the room, and then to his ear. Allison got it, someone might be listening. He pulled out his cell phone and typed up a message handing her the phone when he was done.

We have a cabin up in the reserve. If Gerard was able to cover his scent, he would have head there. We can’t go see without tipping off Alex.

 

This was getting them nowhere. Allison let out a sigh as Lydia walked in the room. “So, yeah, vampires. I thought I read in the bestiary that they were all wiped out? Can we expect this resource to be consistently wrong in the future?”

Chris turned to her and bit his tongue on what he wanted to say first, then said, “Most of the vampires were killed. I am betting that is why Alex is here. He is one of the elders. The elders would have had enough thralls to survive without drinking any of the infected blood that the hunters genetically engineered.” He sat on the edge of the bed and rubbed his hands down the front of his pants nervously. “I told them that it was a horrible idea, it would never kill the eldest, but Gerard was sure the virus would eventually spread across the globe and even the thralls would be unable to avoid it.” He paused thinking, “Gerard will be the last one who was involved in that attack.”

Allison sat in the chair next to the bed, “So, how do we fight a vampire.” Chris looked up pinching the bridge of his nose like he was getting a headache. “Same as a werewolf, only without the benefit of wolfsbane. He is an elder, he will be faster and stronger than an Alpha, he also heals faster than a werewolf, but on the plus side, we have sunlight on our side. He will stay out of the sun, especially midday.”

Lydia leaned against the doorway, her arms were crossed, and she looked so annoyed. Great, werewolves, vampires, and what is next, Fendinn?” Chris jerked his head to look at her. “Where did you hear that?” Lydia uncrossed her arms to pull at a loose curl that fell over her shoulder, “In the bestiary, why?” Chris scowled, “If you knew anything about them you wouldn’t even joke about that.” Chris stood and walked toward the door, “As much as I hate to admit it, I really wish that Scott was able to help us.”

Lydia stepped out of the way as Chris walked out the door. She gave Allison an expectant look. “What?” Allison questioned? “Nothing, just trying to figure out why you keep pretending that you don’t care about Scott when it is pretty apparent that you do.” Allison looked away and huffed, “I just think it is for the best, it is too complicated and we both have a lot on our plates at the moment.” Lydia grabbed her arm as she started to walk past her, out the door. “Scott was in control when you were dating. Maybe you should factor that into whether you want to keep ignoring him.”

* * *

 

Stiles was standing back in the cold dark hospital hallway. It was ironic that he was asleep and dreaming because he was so tired he could barely stand. He just stood there staring down the hallway. It was starting to feel hopeless. He felt cold all the way down to his bones. He was still trying to figure it out, every time he tried to leave the hallway, no matter which door he went through, he would end up in a different dream. Every time he moved to a different dream he would forget about the hallway and eventually lose control of the dark evil inside him.

He sat down roughly on the cold tile floor. His bones hurt, his head hurt, hell, even his heart hurt thinking about all the visions he had witnessed. Even in the weak light, he could make out the dark stains on his hands.

He leaned his head back slowly drawing in a deep breath, then he screamed as loud as he could. No words, just a primal release. The pain tore up his throat and he was sure if it wasn’t a dream his throat would be bleeding. If it were a real hospital it would echo, but the sound just fell against the surrounding walls and died away. He felt like that sound. He dropped his head into his chest and swallowed against the burning in his throat.

When he first realized it was a dream he was angry, and wanted to attack the dream, force it to release him. Now he thought, I am nothing but sound and fury waning into nothing.

He could feel the tears, tiny trails of cold tracing across his face. Once he started crying it was all too easy to let go. He was alone and no one could see his shame. He sniffled and coughed, then he sobbed, a pathetic wail escaped his mouth and  he gasped for breath. His thoughts of hopelessness rushed around inside his head like a whirlpool being sucked down into his soul.

Then he heard something. It sounded like an echo of him crying. Great, he thought, a scream does nothing but that will echo? He suddenly felt embarrassed at crying like he was a child. He couldn’t remember the  last time he had cried like this. He rubbed at his eyes angrily with the backs of his hands and sniffed his running nose. He swallowed and tried to control his uneven breathing. He could still hear someone crying. The sound was coming from the hallway behind him. He turned his head around to look down the hallway and held his breath trying to listen more carefully.

The crying sounded the same, but a bit higher pitch. He could hear someone whispering.

Stiles had never been down that way. He was always trying to leave the hospital, looking for a way down the stairwell, looking for a room that would lead him to a fire escape, looking for anyway to get out of this hell, but he was always moving forward. He had never turned around and went down the hall behind him.

Without getting up from the floor he turned his body around in the floor to face the other way. A feeling of unease crept over him. He could feel a sense of dread growing inside him. He swallowed and rubbed at the salty sting on his face that the tears had left. He drug his tongue across his dry, painfully chapped lips and willed himself off the floor. As he stood the pain in his tired body was there again. A chill crawled up his spine as he took his first step toward the sound of the crying boy. The dread rose up inside him like bile in his throat, it made him shiver like he was freezing cold, but the new sensation gave him pause that something was different, something had changed, and that sense of difference gave him a glimmer of hope.

* * *

 

Melissa was standing outside the door to Stiles’ room in the hospital. She was holding Stiles’ chart in her hand just looking at the surface of the door. She was preparing herself to go in.

Isaac had dropped off the car looking like he hadn’t slept at all last night, and went straight upstairs to his room. He didn’t even mention the fact that the Sheriff was pretty obviously sleeping in the recliner in the livingroom.

She drove herself to the hospital with the radio off going over and over the young girl’s death and how best to tell Scott about it. She kept losing her train of thought though. She was worrying about Stiles, thinking about the fact that Seth was still expecting family dinner night even though he was completely oblivious to everything supernatural. The threat of a serial killer hung in the back of her mind, and now some new kind of unknown danger was testing them. It seemed that everyone had a lot on their plate lately, and she was no exception to that rule.

She was hit with her first dose of bad news as soon as she walked in asking how Stiles was doing. The nurse working the shift before her had just handed her the chart. Stiles’ body temperature and blood pressure had been slowly dropping through the night. They were doing what they could to keep him warm, but it didn’t seem to change anything. She wondered if that meant he was failing the test.

The second dose of bad news was the sweet lady that walked into the ER last night and then proceeded to slip into a coma exactly like the ones sleeping in the old psyche ward. She said nothing about serious symptoms, the registrar said she was calm and pleasant, then she sat down in the lobby to wait and fell asleep.

Third dose was a call from Seth. She almost didn’t answer, she was at work after all, but she couldn’t just ignore him, and she was sure it was probably because she hadn’t called him about the family dinner.

When she answered she attempted to go into apology mode, “I know I was supposed to call you and let you know about dinner, I’m sorry, things have been a little crazy...” “Melissa” “here lately and I haven’t gotten a chance to talk-” “STOP and listen to me. We can worry about that later.” She stopped. “We had an agent spot the murderer. They had a fix on him but they lost him. I want you and Scott to stay safe. Stay in public places if you can, if you have to go home, make sure the doors are locked at all times.”

Melissa thought she was going to break into a million pieces under all this stress. “Melissa, did you hear me?” Seth sounded concerned. She missed hearing that in his voice. “I got it. I got to get back to work.” She started to hang up, then pulled the phone back up to her ear. She listened for a second then whispered, “You still there?” Seth breathed in, “Yeah.” “Thank you.” Melissa held the phone for a second listening to the sound of his breathing, then reached up to press ‘end’.

The inside of the room was dark and it took a second for her eyes to adjust. The machines in the room were beeping softly and Stiles’ murmured something in his sleep. Scott looked up from the chair on the other side of the bed. He looked tired and a pain of guilt washed over Melissa that she was having to tell him this.

“Mom, I could hear you breathing outside the door for the past five minutes, I can smell the apprehension and guilt coming off of you and I already know about Stiles condition getting worse. Whatever it is, just tell me, because honestly, worrying about what you are going to tell me is worse that just hearing it.” Melissa drew a breath in through her nose and swallowed. “The girl from the other day… she, she didn’t make it.” Scott’s mouth fell open and his eyes were unfocused like he was looking a million miles away. “Scott” Melissa moved to the foot of the bed across from Scott. Her voice was just a whisper, “She had a birth defect, and could have died at any time, in fact the odds are she wouldn’t have lived another year or two.” She sat the clipboard on the bed and reached to touch his hand. “I think that… somehow, deep inside, while you were running around as a werewolf, that you were still there… that you were still partially in control. And I think that without knowing it, you were trying to help her in the only way you could.”

Scott stood up slowly, his mom’s hand falling onto the bed. He was emotionless as he stepped to the foot of the bed. “I need to be alone for awhile, and then I think I need to talk to Deaton.”

Melissa pressed her hand to her lips and shook her head, “Just, Scott, your father called. There is a serial killer in Beacon Hills. I don’t guess I need to tell you to be safe, but …. be safe.”

As Scott walked out the door she sent a text to Alan about the new sleeper. Stiles moaned and she looked up to his face. A single tear was crawling down his face.

* * *

 

As she turned the key in her front door she stopped to think how long she had been out. She didn’t mean to leave Aiden alone in her bedroom for this long. As she pushed the door open she just started talking, “Hey, I’m sorry I left you alone for so long, I got tied up with Allison and-” “You don’t even know what you are do you?” Alex’s voice was like ice water down her spine. Immediately the sound of Aiden’ growling started. He was at the top of the stairs, his face looking pained but claws out, gripping the railing and glaring at Alex.

Alex never took his eyes off Lydia, “Tell your little dog to go climb back in bed unless you want him hurt more than he already is.” Lydia’s eyes looked from Aiden to Alex and back to Aiden, a wound across his ribs had torn open and was bleeding. “Aiden.” She just looked at him for a moment as his eyes dulled back to their normal warm brown. “Alex isn’t going to hurt me, everything is fine, please…” The anger drained out of his face, but a suspicion stayed in his eyes. “If you need me I will be right here.” With that he turned around and limped painfully back to Lydia’s room. He pulled the door closed a little harder than he intended, but the loud slam punctuated his annoyance.

Lydia turned back to Alex, her face was held in her usual polite yet superior state. Alex grinned at her, “You even have your own attack dog, how quaint.” Lydia tried with all her will not to sound indignant, “You were saying something about what I am?”

“Oh, yes,” Alex started, “you see, I was thinking about it, and it was the only reason that made any sense. I was really just here to dispose of” his voice took on a cold gravel,” the last member of the team of hunters that lay waste to my children, but then you came along. I couldn’t understand why Chris wasn’t afraid of you, how he let you walk into his home without a single reservation. And then you, when I told you I wouldn’t give you my name, I didn’t want you to have more power over me, you looked at me like I was talking in riddles.” Alex sank slowly into the chair next to him. “Then it dawned on me. You actually believe that you are the human child that you replaced, you have no idea what you truly are.”

Lydia tried to remain calm even though underneath her cool exterior her mind was racing. “I have no idea what you are talking about.” A slow smile spread across Alex’s face, “Your racing pulse and stress odor tell me otherwise.” He licked his lips almost seductively, “You are a bright girl, I think you must have some idea what you are by now. Tell the truth, admit that you have some suspicion as to what you really are.”

Lydia sank onto the sofa behind her, not a relaxed seat, but in a way that said her legs might not support her any longer. She sat right on the very edge, her eyes had a far away look to them. “The darach called me a banshee.” Alex purred a response of, “something more than that perhaps?” Lydia’s eyes met his and she looked as though she were holding her breath. “Go on,” he smiled, “I heard you and Chris talking in Gerard’s room.” Lydia whispered, “Fendinn?” the uptick of pitch at the end forcing it into the possibility of a question.

“Old Norse mythology reference? Impressive! The Fae don’t go by ‘the devil’ anymore, though it is quite the fitting terminology, twisted and powerful, they do love getting attention as deities. I am sure they even played their part in the various religions of the world. Loki was probably a Fae, though not all of them are quite so vile. Some actually care about the balance of nature and care for the earth like the Druids.” He looked away like he was thinking back of distant memories,  “It would have been about the time you were swapped that the great tree was cut down. I guess that is why no one ever came back for you.”

Alex reached over to a basket of fruit on the table and picked up a shiny red apple. “They can’t come and go anymore without their ancient places of power. But my question would be, why do you seem to be missing your magics?”

Lydia just sat on the edge of the seat as prim and proper as possible, watching a vampire polish an apple against his sleeve while telling her that she was a being from another dimension. It was completely surreal. Just as she opened her mouth to speak, Alex stood from the table, “This has been an interesting evening Mrs. Martin. I hope to speak with you again soon… you are a …. intriguing mystery. You will have to forgive my rude departure, however I need to get somewhere out of the sun for midday, you see, I tend to get these horrible sunburns.” He smiled a devilish smile at his own self deprecating humor.

With that he walked past her and out the door. She stood as he past and stared at the door long after it closed. Her rational mind was the only thing holding her shattered emotions together. Proof, it said to her, there has to be some proof.

* * *

 

The line at the coffee shop was pretty backed up when Scott got there. He thought he had slept enough on the bed next to Stiles, but what rest he got was not good, every time Stiles cried out he had woken up. He was seriously dragging this morning and he needed some caffeine, even if it might not work with him being a werewolf. Three people in front of him and he started to get hopeful that he wasn’t going to be much longer until he heard the person at the front of the line call out about 20 coffees. He sighed.

It was hard to really smell anything other than coffee in a coffee shop, it was a strong odor, but somewhere in the room, someone smelled like Isaac. He looked around, but Isaac should be at home asleep. He concentrated on his senses and drew in a breath slowly trying to separate out the different scents. It wasn’t Isaac, but something familiar. Whatever the smell was, it was close.

He turned around slowly still sniffing the air and the guy behind him gave him an odd look. “Sorry, I really like the smell of coffee,” Scott joked. The guy was tall and had broad shoulders. He had chin length disheveled hair and a strong chin. He seemed familiar but Scott couldn't place him. Scott turned back toward the line and the customer at the front of the line was complaining about several of the coffees being wrong.

Scott muttered under his breath, "geez this is going to take all day." "Tell me about it. Like one too many sugars is going to make a difference." Scott turned back to the guy behind him, "you can hear him from all the way back here?" The guy looked unsure, "Yeah, can't you?"

He looked back to the front of the line at the short man in a bad suit griping about every single coffee being wrong. Scott could hear fine, but he felt like he probably shouldn't be able to without being a werewolf. He turned back toward the guy behind him and tried to be casual about sniffing the guy behind him when the guy looked at the door as the bell chimed signalling another customer coming in. It was him, he was the one that smelled like Isaac. The guy turned back around and Scott played it cool looking at a painting on the other wall.

The guy tapped him on the shoulder, so he turned back around with a questioning look. "I'm not trying to hit on you or be weird or anything, but, I feel like I know you from somewhere?" Scott frowned his mouth and furrowed his brows, "you don't look familiar, what's your name, what school do you go to?"  The guy looked awkward, “Jason and I don’t go to school. I was homeschooled and I already got my GED. Umm, public school is really really inefficient, I actually finished school last year.” “I really don’t know then. I’m Scott, I go to Beacon Hills High School, maybe you have seen me playing lacrosse?” Jason shook his head no, “I don’t really watch sports, I... you, nevermind..”

Scott lifted an eyebrow at him and then it dawn on him why he smelled like Isaac. He didn’t smell like Isaac, he smelled like a packmate. “No, what were you going to say?”, Scott pressed. “I was just going to ask what kind of cologne you were wearing, that I really liked it, but I decided it really sounded like I was hitting on you. I don’t have any issue with gay guys, I'm just not.”

Scott swallowed, he was going to have to make this quick, because the complaining guy at the front of the line was finally done. “This is going to sound like I am a serious freak, but did you happen to get bitten by a wild animal lately?" Jason just stared at him for a second, his mouth hanging open slightly. "How could you know that?"

Scott winced, "Shit!.... Shit, shit,shit, shit, shit, shit, shit." Jason backed away from him a step. Scott continued ranting,“Where is Stiles when I need help, OH yeah, right, in the hospital.” Jason leaned in, “Stilinski?” “Huh?” Scott turned back to Jason, shocked. Jason asked, “Stiles is in the hospital?” Scott looked confused, “Yeah, how do you know Stiles?”

Jason pointed forward to indicate the line was moving, “I’ve never met him in real life, but when I was able to play computer games he was in my guild on World of Warcraft. We used to chat all the time, but never really got around to meeting up. I relapsed and didn’t have the finger control to play anymore. How do you know Stiles?” Scott almost laughed out loud, “Stiles has been my best friend since 4th grade and He hasn’t really been playing WoW lately.”

Scott rubbed his hand across his face and just went for it. “WoW is kind of boring when your best friend turns into a real life Worgen.” Jason smiled and snorted out a huff almost like a laugh, “You guys do some kind of real life role playing?” Scott glanced around the room, no one was looking up from their laptops, he decided to go for broke, “something like that,” He looked Jason in the eye and let his eyes bleed red. The color fell out of Jason’s face, but he didn’t move. Scott looked around to see if anyone else was reacting like they might have seen. Jason didn’t take his eyes off him. He just stood there processing.

“Hey, kid” the barista was yelling, Scott turned to face him, “either order or move out of the way so the people behind you can order.” Scott turned back to Jason and he was still silent. “Um,” he turned back to the counter, “I’ll have a large iced cappuccino, and whatever my friend here wants.” He looked back to Jason and the barista gave him an expectant look. “Oh, um, same is fine.” Jason stepped up next to Scott at the counter and whispered, “It was you?” He didn’t move to look at Scott, “Last night, that was you,” he paused and stared at the floor. “That explains the scrape on my face. This is really happening. My hands don’t, if I…” he looked back into Scott’s eyes, “would this cure my muscular dystrophy?”

Scott shook his head, “I don’t know, but maybe. It fixed Erica’s epilepsy. Derek said it doesn’t really fix it, it was always still underlying, but it overrides it.” Scott paid for the coffees and handed one to Jason. Scott walked to a table and sat down, Jason followed him looking like he was deep in thought. He sat in the chair opposite from Scott looking down at the table. Scott leaned down to look up into Jason’s eyes, “You seem to be taking this pretty well considering I just told you that I bit you last night and you are now a supernatural creature.” Jason looked up at him and looked like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders, “You have no idea what this means for me, I drove myself to my doctor’s appointment this morning and he was confused as to why I wasn’t showing any symptoms. Yesterday my hands were so weak and shaky that I couldn’t even draw, and this morning I could hold up my Mom’s keychain on one finger. This pretty much gave me my life back.” Scott smiled, “If you think a keychain is great, you are in for a surprise, but I have to be honest with you. I was out of control when I bit you, and not everything is good, in fact, I have gotten you into a whole mess of shit.”

He looked up at Jason who was still smiling, “I am never going to relapse. You have no idea what that means to me. You have completely changed the rest of my life. Pretty sure you are going to have to drag me way down to counteract that.” Scott scooted his chair back and stood up, “I was actually just on my way to talk to my mentor and boss about a problem that we are having right now. Would you like to go with me?” Jason thought for a second, “sure, just let me call my Mom and let her know where I am going.”

* * *

 

Peter walked back to the rental car feeling exhausted from all the formalities and pleasantries of interacting with another pack. The Alpha had welcomed him in graciously and offered all the assistance that she could, but they had not seen Laura since she left Derek there, and hadn’t seen Derek since he left a month afterward. The pack offered Peter a meal to which he declined, had he accepted it would have been a signal that he was unable to care for himself and the Hale pack that he was illegally representing, would have been seen as weak. The whole interacting with another pack was a delicate line to walk. You didn’t want to accept any help, but you didn’t want to be rude about it either.

It seemed that neither Laura nor Derek had been a good fit in the pack here. Laura had been an Alpha at the time and refused to submit to the dominant Alpha in the pack, so she quickly left but had left Derek there. Peter winced thinking of the implication of abandoning one of your pack members, but the Alpha made no indication that it was shameful. The Alpha here seemed to be very nurturing and maternal, he bet that she took in all kinds of Omega wolves to train as her own. Derek had tolerated the group much better than Laura had, but he never formed any bonds with anyone there. Peter had laughed to himself at that, Derek having a hard time making friends? Who would have thought?

During his time there he worked his senses to their limits trying to note any scent to indicate that they were there, but he had smelled no trace of them anywhere on the pack land and was certain that Alpha was speaking the truth when she said that they hadn’t returned. This was yet another dead end.

He was driving back south on 73 toward New York. It would be faster to get a more direct flight out of the airport there. Besides, he really wanted to have a couple of angry words with the rental car dealership that gave him this car.

* * *

 

Lydia opened the door to her room and stepped in. One step into the room was all she took, and then she stood there staring at Aiden. He had made it back to the bed and was pressing a piece of gauze against his wound to stop any blood from getting on the sheets. He looked up at her and waited.

Just as he opened his mouth to say something, Lydia interrupted, “I don’t want to talk about it.” she finally muttered. Aiden scooted over a little in the bed and lay back against the pillows, patting the mattress beside him. Lydia looked thin, like the littlest thing might break her. She walked around to the computer desk grabbing the medical tape and walked back to the bed. “If you bleed on these sheets too, I will literally kill you.” She sighed a weak huff and tore off strips to press against his gauze and hold it in place. She tossed the roll on the nightstand and walked around the bed stripping down to her underwear and lay on the bed next to him.

“I am exhausted, don’t wake me until I’ve gotten at least a four hour nap.” Lydia said rolling over to face the opposite wall. Aiden said nothing and slid an arm under her to pull her back against him so they could spoon.

Aiden had heard a lot and only understood a little of it. His mind was running through it all again. That was definitely not a man in the living room, he had gotten into the house without Aiden hearing or smelling him, and he didn’t even flinch when Aiden had roared at him from the top of the stairs. He was surprised at Lydia’s courage in the face of something so dire. She had stood there like a stone, fearless.

Alex had insinuated that Lydia was something more than she appeared to be. It was hard to believe, but as odd things had been going on lately, it wouldn’t be the oddest. He pulled Lydia a little closer and pressed a kiss into the back of her neck. At that he felt the tension melt out of her and she started breathing deeply.

Lydia may have relaxed, but her mind was still racing with the implications that Alex had left her with. She was going to get to the bottom of this, but how do you prove that you are really a human? How would you prove that you weren’t?

* * *

 

Stiles had almost walked to the end of the long dark hallway, it seemed the further he walked the longer the hall seemed. The logical part of his mind kept analyzing the dream as it happened. The closer he got to his goal the further away it seemed to have originally been in the first place. He was weaker than before, and caught himself teetering off balance in between steps. He just kept pausing to steady himself, taking a deep breath and stepping forward once again.

The crying he had heard earlier had tapered shortly after he started walking toward it. The whispers though, they seemed to go on forever, they echoed off every surface and distorted in the shadows. Sometimes they sounded like a sweet lullaby and other times like a evil rasping voice taunting his feeble attempts at freedom. The whispers were different people’s voices, he heard Scott’s and his Dad’s, he thought maybe they were in the hospital room talking to him, then he would hear his Mom’s voice calling to him from beyond death. It made his whole body tremble thinking about all his dreams the past couple months. She had been there, his father had been there, ‘it was all your fault’ he said.

The further he got down the hallway the weaker the light seemed to get, the previously damp floor was now actually standing water about an inch deep. The water was frigid cold and swirling with black filth, it bit into his bare feet as he walked toward the hallway’s end. The walls were crumbling with decay and he was shaking with anxiety as he got closer to the last door.

He could hear the faint beep of machines working in the room even though it was yards away. The whispers were definitely coming from the room. The tiny flame of hope was still burning, he thought to himself, this is the goal, I need to get to this room and I will find a way out of this nightmare.

He took his next step. He paused making sure he was standing upright, lifting his foot out of the freezing water, swung it forward and as he went to put it down, he found no floor. The ever familiar feeling of the lurching startle in his stomach was there as he fell forward. Normally the feel of falling would wake a sleeping person, the sudden shock would scare them enough to pull them back into a conscious state.  The icy water swallowed him as he fell forward, he had no strength to try and catch himself before he fell. He had no time to prepare for the shock of the numbing cold, it felt like knives stabbing into his pale skin. He found himself sinking deeper and deeper unable to force himself to swim. He clawed at the darkness around him trying to find anything to hold onto. His flame of hope sputtered inside him, maybe he shouldn’t have went back, maybe this was a mistake. The burning in his lungs was a dream, the biting cold was just a dream, maybe he should just let go?

* * *

 

 


	4. Shackles of Secrets

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The newest member of Scott's pack meets up with the estranged girlfriend and the simply strange Veterinarian who offers up some assistance with the sacrificial trio's secret troubles, all while keeping up his own personal secrets.
> 
> The Sheriff learns a little about the werewolves' gifts and a little more about guilt as he and Melissa try to sort through their long held secret. 
> 
> Lydia finds that a simple gesture can help more than you might think but worries that she can't trust her friends with the new facet of her persona.
> 
> Stiles finds that the darkness might not always be the evil that it seems, but then again maybe it just gets better at hiding it's true intent. 
> 
> The situation with the sleeping patients gets a new twist, and the twins find out that some wounds don't actually heal.

 

* * *

 Allison decided that she was tired of wondering what the good Dr. Deaton was talking about with his cryptic talk about testing Scott and Stiles and go speak to him herself. Her father had told her to stay at home, that it would be safer for her there. She snorted through her nose thinking about it. Yeah right, a vampire just walked through the front door a few hours ago, and sat down at their dining room table. He chatted them up like they were old friends and walked out afterward. He didn’t kill either one of them then and she figured that if he was going to, being at home waiting, wasn’t going to stop him.

She grabbed her keys and was out the door and in her car in minutes. On the drive to the Vet Clinic she thought about what Lydia had said about Scott being in control with her. It seemed wrong to consider continuing to date Scott just so he could maintain control. After the last full moon, it was something that she was still considering.

She pulled up to a red light and sat watching the cars go by, she pulled out her phone to check for any missed messages, when she turned her phone back off, it looked like her lipstick was smeared in the reflection on her screen. She sat her phone on the seat and reached for the rear-view mirror tilting it down to see her face. The lips were smeared, but it wasn’t her lips and it wasn’t lipstick. Kate’s dead eyes looked out of the mirror into her’s. Crusted red blood was smeared across her face as her lips curled into a fierce smile. Her Aunt’s crazed laughed cackled through her head.

The next second she found herself on the other side of the intersection speeding down the road. She didn’t know if she had meant to, but she hit the gas and floored it through the light. Luckily she hadn’t hit anyone in the process.

She glanced back at the mirror and her own wide shocked eyes looked back at her from the reflection.

Allison pulled into the handicap space right in front of the clinic and jerked open the doors. She nearly ran to the doors and jerked them open before stepping into the waiting area. She realized a little too late that she was breathing heavily and the waiting area wasn’t empty like she had expected.

Scott looked up at her, “Allison?... umm, is everything okay?”  Allison looked around the room, an older dark skinned man with silver hair had  a yowling siamese cat in a carrier on his lap while pretending to read a Stream and Field magazine, while a frumpy middle aged housewife type with a head full of curly red hair, held her yorkie like a baby and eyed Allison with disdain. Allison made a tiny wave at the housewife, “Sorry.” She sat down in the seat next to Scott. She noticed the tall dark haired boy sitting to the other side of him and eyed Scott questioningly. “Oh, this is Jason, Jason, this is Allison.” “Hi!” Jason said brightly, then turned into Scott and whispered, “Is she?” Scott shook his head no and eyed Jason with wide disbelief.

Allison stared at Scott, her mouth was hanging open slightly as he furrowed his eyebrows at Jason. Jason looked from Scott to Allison and then nodded his head sheepishly toward Allison. Scott looked back at Allison like he had been caught with his hand in the cookie jar.  “Jason is the newest member of our band.” Scott said looking around the room at the other people that could easily be eavesdropping. Allison sat back in her seat, “I didn’t realize the band needed any new members Scott.” Scott sat back and his voice developed a bit of a growl to it, “You know as well as I do that it wasn’t really within my control Allison.”

Jason leaned forward, “You two are dating?” At the same time Scott said “No.” and Allison said “Sorta.” Scott looked back at Allison, he was seriously confused. “Sorta?” Allison huffed out an annoyed breath. “Let’s not do this now, I have had a really, really bad day.” Scott tilted his head to the side, “What are you doing … here, exactly?” Allison looked around the room again and rolled her eyes at the annoyance of not being able to speak frankly, “I just had a couple questions to ask Dr. Deaton about Newman my toad.” Scott wrinkled his forehead lifting his eyebrows. “I didn’t know you had a toad.”

Allison just got up and pulled Scott by the hand toward the glass door. Jason got up like he was going to follow and then sat back down. Scott looked at Allison then back to Jason and then back to Allison, “It’s fine if he wants to come,” she grumbled, and he hopped up off the seat walking after them.

Outside in the alley Allison leaned against the brick wall next to the dumpster. She eyed Jason with uncertainty, “How much do you want him to know starting out?” Scott just looked at Jason for a second and Jason shrugged his shoulders, “No secrets. Anything you can say to me, you can say in front of my pack.” Jason didn’t turn his head from Scott, but eyed over toward Allison. “Fine,” she said, she looked at Jason with a bit of scorn in her eyes, “I hope you know what you are in for.”

She looked back at Scott, “Deaton sent me a text about you and Stiles being tested. He thinks that I may be next, and I need to talk to him about some dreams, or visions I have been having lately.” She paused and looked down at the ground. “I keep seeing my Aunt Kate, she looks just like after Peter tore her throat out in front of me, only she is covered in dirt and her eyes are white and lifeless.” He looked up from the ground clenching her eyes shut like she was trying to will the images away. Scott rubbed his hand on the back of his neck, “They are just dreams Allison, I have bad dreams too. I dream that I am running around town stalking people. It is nothing, just a bad dream.” Allison looked at him clenching her jaw, “On the way here I saw her in my rear-view mirror while sitting at a stop light and ran through the intersection. I don’t know if it was me or Kate pushing the gas pedal Scott. I could have killed someone or myself, I feel like I am turning into her.”

Scott moved to comfort her and she stepped away. “Deaton said there would be a darkness after the sacrifice. Maybe this is what he meant.”

Allison stepped out into the alley and turned back to face them, “A vampire came to pay my father a visit earlier this morning.” She paused letting that sink in for a minute while she shook her head up and down emphasising the fact that she just said ‘vampire’. “A vampire. A real, blood sucking vampire. He apparently wants revenge on my grandfather for his role in nearly wiping their race off the face of the earth, and I am having difficulty telling myself why we should stop him. I haven’t slept well in weeks, all of this shit keeps happening to us, and now a whole new twist of supernatural bullshit. I just want some answers and Deaton is the only person I know that can give them to me.”

She looked over at Jason, “Bet you are wishing you weren’t at the wrong place at the wrong time now huh?” Jason did look a little worried but he just smiled, “Yesterday I couldn’t hold a pencil, this morning Scott showed me I could lift up the back of a car.” Allison looked confused, “couldn’t hold a pencil?” Scott interrupted, “Jason has muscular dystrophy.” Jason corrected, “Had.”

Scott sat on the hood of Allison’s car, “my Mom seems to think that in some subconscious way I was choosing people that had problems, trying to help them. The girl at the hospital, the one that didn’t make it, she had a birth defect in her heart. Had she changed, she would have lived. Without the bite, she would have needed an emergency heart transplant for a condition she never knew she suffered from.”

Allison didn’t know what to say to that. Scott was looking at her like he was still thinking about ‘sorta’. She couldn’t keep pretending that she didn’t still think about him, she didn’t even care if she was able to help him maintain control, she just wanted her feelings out in the open and was too tired to think about any consequences. “Scott, I have to tell you something, and you probably aren’t going to like it, but I am tired and I can’t keep it quiet any more.” She paused and watched Scott’s anxiety rise, “I was kind of seeing Isaac, but I can’t stop missing you and it just feels wrong to keep pretending that everything is okay when it obviously isn’t.”

Scott was definitely shocked. “I can’t stop thinking about you either. I keep trying to let go so that you and I can move on, but I can’t. It has been even harder every time Isaac came home smelling like you. It just made me miss you even more.” This time it was Allison’s turn to be shocked. He had known the whole time.

Jason was see-sawing back and forth from the balls of his feet to his heels, “I think maybe I will be just inside. You two sound like you might need some privacy.” With that he pulled the doors open and disappeared inside.

* * *

 

Jonathan woke to the sound of a couple pots and pans clanging in the kitchen. He realized quickly that he wasn’t in his bed, he wasn’t even in his own house. He stood up from the recliner, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, then looking around for Melissa even though he knew she would have been at work by now. He was puzzled for a moment  how she would have gotten there since she left him to sleep in her living room.

Isaac appeared out of the kitchen, “Sorry Mr. Stilinski, I didn’t mean to wake you, I was just about to make some lunch, you want something?” The Sheriff’s stomach answered for him by growling vigorously. He laughed, “I guess my stomach says yes.” Isaac smiled, “Was thinking about some chicken stir-fry. Does that sound okay to you and your stomach?”

Jonathan walked into the kitchen to watch Isaac setting out the pans and pouring in the various ingredients, “I didn’t know that Melissa had her own live-in chef. Any chance I can get you to teach Stiles any? All he can make is spaghetti.” Isaac laughed out a single snort, through his nose. It was forced but the Sheriff wasn’t going to say anything about it. He just realized he was joking about his son, the one laying in the hospital bed fighting some unknown fight to prove himself worthy. It made laughing about his spaghetti seem wrong. Isaac breathed in a deep breath through his nose, “I just cook when I feel anxious. All this stuff lately has me on edge. But it’s nice, having people around that care, you know what I mean?” Jonathan could tell that was sincere. He couldn’t imagine what living in a house with an abusive parent could do to a kid’s ego. He was glad that Isaac was living here with Melissa, Jonathan couldn’t think of a better more loving person to care for a child.

Isaac looked back from the stove to the Sheriff, “Melissa called a little while ago. Stiles’ condition hasn’t changed.” Jonathan looked to the kitchen table and sat down. “I wish there was something that we could all do to help. Having the strength of a werewolf is really useless at times like this. Deaton said he is on his own with this test.” Isaac turned back to the food cooking on the stove. “I think he will make it, he has a strong will.”

They didn’t talk much after that. Isaac served up the stir-fry and some rice, sat down and ate with Jonathan, then got up and put away all the leftovers and started cleaning up the kitchen. The Sheriff watched him sneakily sniff the air like he was testing to see what scents were there. “What do you keep smelling for?” Jonathan finally blurted out.

Isaac turned to him, eyes somewhat wide then a blush of embarrassment spread across his face. “You. Scott said we shouldn’t tell people how they feel, and we shouldn’t try to use people’s scent against them, but I could tell from your scent that you weren’t really interested in talking about Stiles. It’s really kind of awkward invading people’s privacy without really meaning to. But it helps from time to time, especially when someone is just quiet, and not talking about their feelings.”

The Sheriff thought how useful that would be as a police officer. But talk about the headache you would have to go through to make anything stick, you couldn’t exactly write ‘he smelled guilty’ in a police report. He stopped thinking about police work and started thinking back to other times his scent would have given away anything about himself. “Isaac,” he said his name in that way a parent did when the kid knew they were probably going to be in trouble if they didn’t answer very carefully. “What else have you noticed about my scent lately.” Lately implied something, but Isaac wasn’t sure what, “No no no no. I don’t want to get involved in anything like this.” Isaac started putting the dishes away in the cabinets. This time it was a little deeper, almost like a begging, “Isaac… come on now.”

“Fine,” Isaac turned around to him, “What did you want to know, whether I can smell the attraction you have for Mrs. McCall? or were you more curious about the smell of pity you get when you look at me. Or is it something to do with the slightly guilty smell that you get every once and awhile when you are around Scott, and you look like you are deep in your thoughts.” Jonathan stood from the table and pushed his chair back to the wall with his legs in the process, “Stop, just, I’m sorry I asked.” Isaac looked unfazed. “Yeah, now imagine, I have to deal with that from everybody, all the time.” Isaac rearranged the pots under the sink to put the pan he cooked in back in place, “Don’t feel sorry for me anymore Mr. Stilinski, it’s in the past and there is nothing that I can do about it except move on with my life.” He paused, stood up and turned around, “Maybe you should do the same about whatever makes you feel guilty?”

* * *

 

Lydia woke up from her nap and her beautifully talented mind went right back to the last thing she had been thinking of before falling asleep. Proof. She was going to find something that proved that vampire was just trying to get in her head, and then she was going to find out why.

The bed beside her was empty and cold. Aiden must have left quite some time ago. She noticed a scribbled note on the nightstand. Some of it was hard to make out but she could fill in the blanks with what she could read. ‘Your mom came home and I needed to check on Ethan. Call me later. XO”

She opened her nightstand drawer and dropped it inside, not that her Mom didn’t know about Aiden being there, but she didn’t need to leave evidence laying around. She hopped up from the bed and twisted her messy hair back into a bun and pulled a pencil out of the cup on her computer desk to shove through it. She took a deep breath plopped down in the computer chair and then started to think of her options. The first thing that popped into her mind was records from the hospital, but those might be a little difficult to get access to. Her mind went to the photo albums from her childhood.

She walked over to her bookshelf and pulled out an album from when she was younger, opened it in the middle of the book. Her hair was bright copper when she was younger, same defiant look in her eyes even as a toddler. She flipped back a couple pages to her when she was around one year old. Same copper hair, only it was a mess atop her head. Her eyes were brighter than they were now, but logically her eyes would start out in the womb as blue and then as the melanin developed, they would gradually change.

She flipped back to the first page of the book, her Mom had put photos of her throughout her pregnancy. One of the photos showed Lydia’s foot pressing against her mother’s belly. There were copies of her ultrasound photos. As she turned the page it was the delivery and photos of her father holding a wrinkled purple mess that was wailing. These were the first pictures of her ever taken. She pulled them up close and looked at them critically. Most of the picture were mainly of her Mom and Dad holding a bundle of fabric, she turned the page and continued to eye each photo with a critical eye.

She started to get the feeling that this was pointless. She didn’t even know what she was looking for, then she noticed in one of the photos of her sleeping, the baby had a small birthmark on the inside of it’s right wrist. She didn’t remember having anything like that on her arm, she looked at it closely, it almost looked like a wonky heart shape. She pulled her arm out from under the book to look at her own wrist, and there it was, slightly faded, but apparent as the small scar she had gotten while trying to catch a knife she dropped two years ago.

She rubbed her fingers across it. Whether it was there now or not, she knew without a doubt that it hadn’t been there before. She had just been trying on bracelets with Allison at the mall last week and took pictures on her cell phone. She grabbed her phone and pulled up the pictures. As she was dragging the pictures screen down the phone hummed, not vibrated like a notification, but hummed like an electrical charge, then the screen went off. She poked her finger to the screen, and then pressed the power button to wake the phone up. I was still on the photos screen, so she scrolled down to where the bracelet photos were. The birthmark was there, she knew something weird was going on.

A sense of dread started building in her mind that Alex just might be right about her after all. She really wanted to go to the hospital and check her footprints against those on file, but then she thought, would they also change to match?

* * *

 

Allison and Scott had been outside talking for awhile and Jason was starting to feel a little out of place. He told his Mom that he was having dinner with a friend and she was so excited that he was making real friends instead of the ones online. Now he was sitting in a waiting room waiting for Scott’s boss, a vet to tell him about being a werewolf. It was so surreal. The doctor came in and asked Mrs. West to come back with her yorkie and gave him an odd look before firmly pulling the gate closed behind him.The cat in the carrier kept staring at Jason like he was about to attack it.

The bell on the door rang jarring Jason out of his staring contest with the cat, and Scott walked in. “I’ll just check Deaton’s appointment book and see when he should be free, we really should have just called first.” He stopped at the gate and looked back to Allison. “Would you mind?” She looked at him and then the gate, “Oh, yeah, no problem.” She reached out and pulled the gate open and Scott stepped behind the counter and pulled up something on the computer. “Mr. Adams,” the man with the cat carrier looked up and smiled somewhat weakly. “Sugar looks like she is doing good.”

“She’s swallowed my wife’s charm off her necklace last night. I tried to tell her not to let the cat play with it, but she thought it was soooo cute.” He rolled his eyes in annoyance, “Thought she might throw it up at some point, but she didn’t.” Scott leaned on the counter, “I’m not the doc, but we will have to do some x-rays to make sure it is passing, and probably end up keeping her for observation until it comes out. If you want to sign her in I can pass along the message to Dr. Deaton.” Mr. Adams huffed, fine, I have been sitting here 20 minutes already and I have better things to do than wait on a stupid cat that eats expensive jewelry.” He looked dour, “Fine.”

He signed the cat in and Scott left the carrier on the counter until Mr. Adams left, the door chiming after him. He looked at Jason, “One thing you will want to know,” he reached out to grab the cage and Sugar started growling and hissing, “Cats REALLY don’t like werewolves.” He walked the cage to the back.

Scott was gone for a minute and Jason looked at Allison, "So did you two work things out, get back together?" "We were talking about a lot of other things. Us getting back together is a whole lot less important than Scott getting control over his self, and the list of problems, including you, just keeps growing and growing."

Scott came back from the kennel area and frowned at Allison, "He is not a problem Allison, he is a part of my pack. Deaton said he would only be another twenty minutes." Allison flopped down in the closest chair. Scott watched her with amusement, "No more appointments today, so we should have his undivided attention." Allison lay her head back against the wall, "Just so freaking tired. I could sleep for a week and it wouldn't put a dent in my sleep deficit."

Jason sat down next to her, "Scott gave me the cliff notes version on this Nemeton thing and you guy's sacrifices, sounds like something out of the fantasy novels I read. Kind of ironic that you are a werewolf hunter and Scott is a werewolf.” Allison looked over at Scott with annoyance. “Yeah, super ironic. What else have you told him Scott? Have you told him about losing control and possibly maiming or killing his friends or family? Have you told him about the possibility of facing unknown supernatural creatures?" "Actually, yeah, I did," Scott looked tired, it had been a rough night and a interesting day, "we were planning on testing his control later, I was planning on asking you or Chris to supervise just in case. It's odd though, I was able to show him my eyes in the coffee shop without even worrying about losing control."

Allison jumped up from the chair stepping up into Scott's face, "you flashed your eyes at him?! You could've lost control in the middle of all those people!" Scott looked somewhat ashamed, but countered, “I didn’t even think about it Allison, it was like I wasn’t worried in the least. I think having a larger pack makes a difference.” She stepped back but didn’t look like she was conceding defeat, “We’ll ask Deaton about it.” She sat back in the chair with a flop, “If we ever get to talk to him!”

“He should be wrapping up any minute now,” he sat down in the chair next to her looking closer, “You seriously do need to get some rest.” “Yeah, tell me about it,” Allison quipped. “I am getting tired just looking at you, of course I didn’t sleep well last night either, Stiles kept talking in his sleep and waking me up. I just wish there was something I could do to help him.”

Allison looked like she had actually fell asleep leaning against the wall. Jason leaned up to the edge of the chair and whispered low enough to not wake her, “Is it normal that I can feel your emotions?” Scott frowned, “Isaac can, but I am working on it, that is something that I wanted to ask Deaton about. The list is getting so long that I don’t know what is more important.” Jason smiled, “Don’t worry about it, I know I’m not in love with Allison.”

Allison tried to keep her breath even, she didn’t know if Scott was paying attention well enough to realize she wasn’t asleep.

* * *

 

In the back of the clinic it looked like a stand off. A single black rune was drawn on the door in charcoal. Mrs. West looked Deaton sternly in the eye a scowl firmly fixed on her face, “I told you that I didn’t want to get involved in any of this Alan. I haven’t practiced in years and Rachel knows nothing of her heritage. From what you’ve shown me, there is nothing we can do to help the boy, only the one who marked him could lift it. He will just have to pass the test.”

Alan leaned back against the stainless steel table, “I just wanted to know if there was anything we could do to give him better odds. I didn’t want you to come out of hiding.” “Anything we did would only complicate the spell. We don’t know the intention of the caster and could very well make things worse for the boy.This is why I never tried to share any of my craft with you Alan, you need the rigid rules of the Druid practice to guide you, and my magics were always too freeform for you.”

Alan looked out the glass window in the door into the waiting area, the rune kept him from hearing what Scott was saying just as it kept Scott or the other werewolf from hearing what they were saying. “Things are getting complicated, you know the Nemeton is awake. If you seriously don’t want to get involved, you may have to move from Beacon Hills. This is becoming something bigger than any one of us can contain.” He walked across the room petting the yorkie still leashed on the table, “I know why you are hesitant, but if we do nothing, more people are going to die. That is something I can say for certain. Hannah, just think about it.”

Alan put the flea treatment in a brown paper bag and handed it to her, “Petunia is as healthy as ever.” Hannah smiled, “At least that is one less thing I have to worry about. I will think about it, Oh, and the original runes I inscribed in your doorways will keep the vampire out, it doesn’t matter that they are painted over, just remember not to invite him in.”

Alan looked unfazed, “It isn’t the vampire I am worried about.”

* * *

 

Melissa couldn’t stop checking in on Stiles every time she passed by his room. His body temperature was dropping more rapidly and they had started warming his IV fluids and had electric blankets on the bed. His lips looked blue and he was paler than usual.

She was walking quickly down the sleepers wing of the hospital trying to think of any other way they could help raise his body temperature safely and give him a fighting chance, and walked right into an older man walking in the hallway, "Oh! I'm sorry, are you okay? Sir, this area is under quarantine, I'm afraid the patients on this wing aren't allowed visitors." Be looked like he was caught doing something he shouldn't have. "Sorry, I think I got turned around. Can you help me find the cafeteria?" Melissa wasn't believing his story, but had other things to worry about, "That's on the ground floor. There is an elevator straight down this hall." He walked off toward the elevator leaving Melissa with her rounds, she pulled the door open and the large room they had converted into quarters for the coma patients was just as quiet as she left it earlier. She noticed a flower vase on the table next to the latest woman's bed.  Pretty little bluish purple flowers. She just left them there thinking that she must have had a lover and did her rounds. She thought to herself she should mention him to the Sheriff and made a mental note of what he looked like. She went about checking on the patients.

No one's vitals had changed since this morning, and Melissa was eager to get back and check on Stiles. She slid the last clipboard into the slot at the foot of the bed and was about to leave when she noticed the odd marking carved into the wood on the inside of the door. Definitely going to need to call the Sheriff now. The mark looked similar to one of those used on Stiles' chest.

* * *

 

Sitting around the house combing through endless photo albums got old quick and Lydia made the decision to just get out of the house. She knew that it was kind of pointless to go see Stiles but she still wanted to at least stop in. It was funny, had he been awake he could probably tell her whether she ever had a birthmark on her wrist.

It was kind of strange walking through the hospital. The last time she was here she had just recently been bitten by Peter and when she left, she went wandering through the woods completely naked. Not really great memories of hospitals. She stopped at the desk to ask what room Stiles was in and the nurse was very friendly.

She stopped just outside the door and wondered if she should knock before entering, but the door opened and Melissa came out looking like she was worried sick. “Lydia, hi, what.. what are you doing here? Is something wrong?” Lydia smiled, “No, everything is fine, well, as far as I know. I was just stopping in to see Stiles, is it okay if I just go in and sit with him for a little while?” Melissa smiled, “Oh course, he is still … well, he’s still unconscious.” You couldn’t exactly say he was in a magically induced coma. Lydia frowned slightly, “I know. I just didn’t want him to be alone.”

Melissa stepped back out of the doorway and let Lydia walk past, “I’ll be back in about 30 minutes, I have some other patients to check in on.” Lydia held the door for a minute as Melissa walked quickly away. She wondered how many times she had been in to check on Stiles today.

The lights were off in the room and it took a second for her eyes to adjust to the dim light from the machines monitoring his vitals. Stiles was just there laying on the pillows, his mouth was hanging open and she half expected him to be snoring, but he looked so frail.

She walked around to the other side of the bed where a chair was already sitting close to his side, she nervously wrung her fingers for a second before sitting down. She took in a deep breath and started to say something, but simply blew the breath out slowly, making a slight whistling noise. She tapped her nails against the table they served food on and chewed on her bottom lip. Then it hit her, “You know, this is the longest that I have ever heard you be quiet, Stiles.”

She looked up to his face, he had closed his mouth and his eyebrows were pulled together in a furrow. It looked like he was struggling with something and couldn’t achieve it, she just reached out her hand to grasp his. A slight murmur escaped his lips and his eyebrows relaxed. His hand was freezing cold and she looked around to check his temperature noticing the electric blankets. Stiles had flailed around and pushed the covers off his upper body. Lydia pulled herself out of the chair to adjust the blankets and noticed the marking on his chest.

She leaned in for a closer look at the markings on his chest, they had faded to pink. They looked like something she would love to study, but they weren’t anything she had ever seen before. She traced her fingers gently across the marks and Stiles shifted his head away from her. The movement distracted her from his marked skin and she looked up. Stiles’ hair was a mess, it had been growing out for awhile and it looked good on him, but this was one serious case of bed-head he had going on. She reached up and ran her fingers through his messy locks, it was surprisingly soft.

It was a barely a whisper, but came out pretty clear as Stiles breathed the words, “no, don’t hurt her.”

Lydia was seriously curious about what was going on inside Stiles’ head, she looked up at all the machines and noticed the temperature had gone up a couple tenths of a degree. She pulled the blankets back up over his chest and tucked them in under his chin. She sat back in the chair still holding onto his hand. It felt awkward for a second, but she just held on. Lydia thought to herself, I don’t know what I am doing here, but if kinda feels good.

Melissa came in the room and walked in quietly, “Everything going okay?” Lydia didn’t drop Stiles’ hand like Melissa thought she might, “He wiggled himself out from under his blankets, but it looks like his temperature is going up.” Melissa looked quickly to the readings on the machine and Lydia’s eyes went with her, Lydia piped up, “two more tenths of a degree. That is four tenths in the past twenty minutes, that is okay right.”

Melissa grabbed Lydia’s free hand, “What did you do?” Lydia’s face went blank. “Is that not good? Is he supposed to be cold?” Her mind started racing through what she knew about coma patients and whether they were supposed to be kept cold to lessen organ damage or something. “No,” Melissa said, “We have been trying to get his body temperature up all day, did you do something?” Lydia just held up her other hand that was holding Stiles’, “Just this.” Melissa held both of their hands together between the two of her hands. “You can not leave, just sit here and hold his hand, I will bring you anything you need or want for the rest of the day.. okay?”

Lydia smiled. “Okay.”

* * *

 

It was completely hopeless, the burning in his lungs didn’t stop when he’d breathed in mouthfuls of the frigid water and hacked out all the air he had inside him. He’d grasped for anything to pull him toward the surface, back toward the air, back toward life ..or at least the twisted version of the only life he had known since falling into this dream. The darkness closed in around his consciousness, the sweet release of death was on him for just a moment, the last heartbeat fell and in that fraction of a second he was almost happy. Then he was back at the start. He had fallen forward immediately retching up black water from his lungs and collapsed to lay there in a puddle. Stiles didn’t even try to get up from the freezing floor as his body trembled in the bitter cold. It was definitely getting colder than when the dreams first started, he remembered the hallway being almost humid with a dank smell of rot. Now the water he had recently coughed up was crystallizing beneath his fingers.

It took everything inside him to struggle into a seated position and pull his arms in close seeking some warmth. He glanced around, the walls were coated with frost and his breath turned to fog as he breathed out.

I’m never going to wake up from this dream he thought. He sat still and waited for the end, after all, it couldn’t be that far away. Robert Frost ran through his head.

 

Some say the world will end in fire, Some say in ice.

From what I've tasted of desire, I hold with those who favor fire.

But if it had to perish twice, I think I know enough of hate

To say that for destruction ice

Is also great

And would suffice.

 

It was weird when he started to notice the change, his fingertips ached. He pulled them out and looked at the bluish fingertips. He balled up his fists and squeezed them painfully. Not numb, I’m not numb, he thought. The hallway was still frozen solid, the water leaking in from above was actually forming icicles from the ceiling, but something deep inside him was getting just a little bit warmer.

He found his tiny flame of hope flickering in the dark recesses of his mind. And decided that he would not let this beat him, he was stronger than whatever this was. He would not fade out into nothing.  
He pulled himself off the floor, his arms and legs felt less stiff and for the moment he felt like he was a hundred times better than he had felt. He turned around with purpose and looked down the hall behind him. He had almost gotten there, and never once saw himself being evil. It had to be the way out of this nightmare.   
With renewed strength and unknown warmth he started to walk carefully across the frozen floor toward his objective. He slid into the wall once and the frost cut into his palms, but he kept moving forward. The end of the hall didn’t seem to stretch on and on this time. His steps were more sure and he didn’t have to pause between each one waiting for the spinning of the room to stand still. It felt like he was borrowing from a reserve of energy he didn’t know he had. The pool of black water he had fallen into earlier was frozen. He pressed his foot against the ice tentatively to test it. It held up, then he stomped it for good measure, and it held up to that. He walked across the ice, panic welling up inside him at the memory of the frigid water burning inside his lungs, but he didn’t let anything stop him from continuing on.

He got to the end of the hall, the last door was just within reach and he didn’t even stop to think about it, he pressed on pushing the door open forcefully. The slam of the door into the wall behind echoed through the hallway. The scene unfolded quickly before him. His mother was laying on the bed and looking like she had very near the end, and a younger version of himself was sitting next to the bed holding his mother’s hand. Her head was wrapped in a colorful scarf and her eyes still sparkled as she talked softly to the younger version of himself. She was whispering softly rubbing her thumb across the top of his hand. Neither his mother or younger self moved when the door slammed into the wall.

The only thing that moved when he slammed the door open was himself, well, his dark self, who was standing behind the corner of the head of the bed. He looked up quickly, excitement shone in his eyes as he gripped the headboard of the bed his razor sharp claws digging into the wood. His other clawed hand lifted and moved toward his mother’s scarfed head. “NO! DON’T HURT HER!” Dark Stiles looked back tilting his head to the side questioningly, then gently caressed his hand across the his mother’s head and she reached up to pull the clawed hand down to her mouth and gently pressed a kiss to the back of his hand.

Younger Stiles looked up to his Mom and smiled at her kissing the arm of a monster, “Daz is going to have to go away when you do?” Stiles’ mother smiled softly reaching down to take her son’s hand gently, “Yes, baby, Daz is going to have to leave with Mommy. He was only here to help Mommy. You see, Mommy really, really wanted you, and so I got Daz to help me get you, if it hadn’t been for him I would have never gotten to hold you in my arms. And having you in my life makes me so very happy.”

Young Stiles crinkled his face up, “But the magic is the reason that you are sick, you said it was dangerous and I should never try it. So,” He pulled his little hand out of his Mother’s and folded his arms in front of him, “If you didn’t have me, you wouldn’t be dying now?” Even as a kid he was quick witted. Stiles’ mother frowned reaching for him, “No honey, this isn’t your fault at all, never think that. You make Mommy very happy and I don’t know how I could have been happy without you.” She pulled him up into the bed with her and wrapped her arms around him tight. She buried her face in his neck whispering comforting words, then pulled back looking up to the dark creature and nodded.

From the doorway Stiles watched the monster, who had begun to look less like Stiles and more like a shadow, reached for the back of younger Stiles’ head and a blue glow emanated from his palm and Stiles went limp in his mother’s arms. Claudia looked up at the creature fondly, “Daz, I think it is time. He won’t remember anything of this?” Daz shook his head ‘No.’ “Good, I don’t want him getting mixed up in this supernatural world and missing out on a normal life. I want him to be happy and grow up without knowing about magic.” She rolled Stiles over into the bed beside her, he looked so peaceful asleep.

Stiles still stood in the doorway unable to move forward into the room. He wondered what he was dreaming about as a kid in his mother’s hospital bed, his memories freshly torn from his mind, and his mother breathing her last breaths. It was like a door opened in his mind and he remembered the things that had been taken from him. All the memories that he had of his mother, Daz was there just behind her like a shadow. Sitting on the ground next to her as she planted flowers in the backyard, standing quietly beside her as she made dinner. Daz had never looked like Stiles before, he always looked like smoke, without a definite shape. It was so easy to forget him, he never spoke, and no one ever saw him but Stiles and his mother.

“Daz,” Claudia reached for his hand, “I’m ready. Will you help me?” The shadow gripped his mother’s hand tightly and Stiles watched as the light faded out of her eyes and the beeping of the machines in the room changed to a dull tone.   
Stiles stood in the doorway watching Daz hold his mother’s hand. It seemed like a moment of tenderness, watching some dark creature affectionately hold the hand of his recently deceased friend. The shadow looked up and directly at into Stiles’ eyes as he waited in the doorway. Daz dropped Claudia’s lifeless hand like it was trash and reached over to place his hand on Young Stiles’ head. The familiar wicked smile formed on the creature’s face. The blue glow emanated from his hand, the claws softly touching the skin of his scalp and the shadow seemed to dissipate and absorb into his head.

 

The cold trails of wet trailing down his face, and the taste of salt on his lips, shook him out of his stupor, he was still standing in the doorway to his mother’s hospital room. She was gone and he was laying next to her. She was gone, and it wasn’t his fault. She said it wasn’t his fault. His Mom had wanted a baby so bad that she used magic and somehow the magic had caused her death. He had spent so many years thinking that somehow it was his fault, even knowing the cancer had taken her, he felt a dark shadow in the back of his mind that told him it was his fault, but it really wasn’t.

Finally he stepped into the room. He slowly walked over to the bed where his younger self was sleeping on the bed in the curve of his mother’s body. He reached out to her hand that hung awkwardly off the side of the bed and and held it tenderly as he placed it back on the sheets beside her. The familiar memory of her perfume hung in the air. He reached out and brushed the back of his fingers gently against her jaw. He reached down to run his fingers against his shaved scalp, remembering how he had started shaving it to match his Mom’s. The lights dimmed, everything faded to black and he was floating weightlessly through a swirl of soft colors.

* * *

 

The door to the back office at the vet clinic opened and Deaton and the lady with her yorkie stepped out walking into the waiting area. “Remember to bathe Petunia before putting on her flea treatment, not immediately after or she won’t be protected.” Deaton said smiling widely. “One time, Alan, one time it happens and you won’t ever let me live it down. Call me for her next appointment.” And with that, and the clanging of the bell, she was opening the door and walking out.

 

Alan turned to Scott, “Glad that you and Allison are here, I need to talk to you both.” He turned to look at Jason, “Someone want to tell me why there is a newly bitten werewolf in my waiting area?” Scott rubbed the back of his head embarrassed, “He is the newest member of my pack, apparently I bit him the last full moon.” “I see,” he stepped over to Jason and extended his hand, “Alan Deaton.” Jason took his hand and shook it firmly, “Jason Fisher, nice to meet you.” Alan walked to the door and flipped it around to the “Closed” side with the phone number to call for emergencies, then locked the door.

They gathered in the back with Scott and Allison across the table from Alan, and Jason standing off to the side listening as Alan spoke, “The side effect from the sacrifice should have been only a shadow of darkness, almost like a bad memory that pushes itself to the front of your memory on occasion. You might have experienced a bad day where you couldn’t shake this bad feeling. But these symptoms that you are telling me about, they aren’t a part of it.” He turned to face Scott specifically, “I can’t believe that you haven’t told me about this before. Were you just going to suffer in silence?” Scott looked down at the floor then back up to his boss, “I thought this was what we signed up for. I was just dealing with it the best way I could.”

Alan huffed out a heavy breath, "These nightmares and daydreams aren't included in the symptoms of the sacrifice. Someone is accessing your minds with a ritual of some sort, causing these visions and I need to help you all protect against it."

He pulled out a tray with several empty vials and implements on it. "I'll need several drops of your blood and your focus items back. You'll have to deal with the nightmares a little longer while I prepare a talisman to protect you from external magical influence. I am sorry, but I am going to have to destroy your focus items to use them for the talisman. I will get the required items from Stiles later today."

Alan started going about the process of pricking Allison’s finger and collecting the droplets of blood in the vial. He quickly added a orange powder to the blood and stoppered it. When he looked up into Allison’s questioning eyes he said, “It helps bind the life energies in the blood to make it more effective later.” He moved to Scott, “It might be better if you cut your own finger with your claw to make it bleed instead of healing.

Jason interrupted with a question, “So, you are the expert on werewolves and all things supernatural?” Alan continued his work and hummed a positive “umm hmm.” Jason moved a little closer, “How does it work exactly, do I have a wolf living inside my body and when I shift the wolf takes over?” Alan stoppered the bottle that he was working on for Scott, and looked at the boy curiously, “Not exactly, no. The best way to describe it is to use psychology terms. You know the mind is made up of different parts, the super-ego, the ego, and the ID. Well, the bite changes the body which is more apt to change, it grows and adapts, the mind is a little more resistant. Your persona has been developed over your entire life and can’t be easily changed. Marin actually studied this exact subject and theorized that the bite breaks the ID into two parts, the wolf’s primal existence and your own.”

Scott moved around the table, “The girl that I bit had a heart defect and Jason had muscular dystrophy, do you think that my, umm, ID was in control of the wolf while I was shifted?” Alan moved to set the tray on the counter, “I think it is possible that you were still partially in control, but your ID isn’t about control, it is about instant gratification. All the base primal instincts that teach us to survive and procreate are part of the ID. The wolf portion of your ID was biting people because of a desire for pack, but perhaps you were the one selecting the people to be bitten.”

It was all very confusing. Scott sighed through his nose, “I just want to make sure that I am not going to hurt anyone else. Chris has a cage that he is going to set up in Stiles’ basement, but now I don’t know what to do about Jason.”

Alan frowned, “I really don’t think that all that will be necessary Scott, I think now that you have a slightly bigger pack that, keeping them nearby will help you to stay in control. You should have taken Isaac with you to the warehouse, I believe that would have helped. If you still want to do the cage, I would at least ask Jason and Isaac to stay in the basement with you.”

Jason smiled, “My mom is going to be ecstatic that I am going to be out of the house, and even more so that I am out making friends. You know I will be there.”

Scott looked over to Allison, “I know it is kind of awkward, but do you think that you might be there too?” Allison smiled and nodded her head yes. “Well, I guess that is a plan.” Scott swallowed nervously, “So once we get these charms, we won’t have any nightmares anymore?” Alan raised his eyebrows, “That is the idea, I hope they will be strong enough.”

About that time Alan’s phone rang in his pocket and he pulled it out, “Hello?” Scott and Jason could hear the voice on the other end of the phone as well, It was Melissa, “Stiles just woke up. Lydia was sitting with him and he just kept getting a little better, and he just woke up.” Alan smiled relieved at the outcome, “I’ll let Scott know.” “Is he there with you?” Melissa asked excitedly. “Yes, would you like to speak to him?” Melissa laughed, “I know he can hear me, just let him know that I just got a shipping notification that his phone was delivered, if he wants to stop by the house and pick it up. Let everyone know that Stiles said he doesn’t want to see anyone right now. He seems really emotionally drained.”

Scott looked a little depressed that Stiles didn’t want to see him, but who knows what kind of nightmares he had been having, and he didn’t even have the option of waking up.

Alan wrapped up the conversation, “I guess I will be headed to the hospital sooner than I thought, I felt bad about taking Stiles’ blood while he was sleeping, but now that he is awake he can consent and I need to get busy making these talismans before anything else happens.”

* * *

 

Stiles sat in the hospital bed physically feeling better, but now that he was awake he was in a whole new type of nightmare. When he had woken up, Lydia, that is right, Lydia fucking Martin was sitting next to his hospital bed holding his hand. Even though he knew it was probably never going to happen, it still kind of made his heart do a cartwheel inside his chest. She looked surprised at first and then stood up, dropping his hand on the bed and said she would go get Melissa.

Stiles was excited to be awake and even more so that Lydia was there holding his hand, but his excitement quickly faded when he noticed the dark shadow lingering in the corner of the room. He remembered the name his Mother and his younger self had called the creature, ‘Daz’. Daz looked more like Stiles than the shapeless shadow he had been in his nightmares.  Lydia came back with Melissa and they both looked so happy to see him awake, he tried really hard to act happy to see them, but he couldn’t shake the fact that some kind of demon, ghost, or wraith, he didn’t even know what, was standing idly in the corner of the room watching Stiles’ interactions with the other two women. Lydia said she had to run, but lingered in the doorway while Melissa looked over his vitals before disappearing.

Finally, after Melissa had given him a once over and was satisfied with his readings, she told him that the doctor would be by in a little while to check on him, but after the undiagnosed coma, they would be keeping him for several days just to be certain. Stiles understood completely, hospitals always had to cover their asses incase of a liability, and as far as physical reasons for the coma, the doctors had found none.

Melissa stopped and looked at Stiles in her serious motherly way, it made Stiles uncomfortable thinking that she could probably tell all his secrets. She asked him softly if he felt like having visitors and said she wouldn’t blame him if he just wanted to rest for now.

The relief was immediate, it was like Melissa had given him a free pass and he agreed that he wanted to relax for a little while without having people around. She told him that she would tell everyone that he wasn’t feeling up to visitors and needed to rest. Melissa gave him a smile and turned off the overhead light before stepping out of the room leaving him alone, well, as alone as he could be.

He watched his dark twin pacing in the corner of the room, looking around at everything but Stiles. Daz seemed to be listening, he would pause and stand still as he shifted his head slightly tilting it. “So,” Stiles said, the rest of his confusion holding his tongue. He didn’t know what to say to it, what it was, or anything other than his mother had trusted it and used it to take away his memories. “What are you?” He finally spit out.

Daz, who was faced away from the bed staring at the door, stopped listening to the sounds of the hospital and turned to look at Stiles. His cold black eyes were still lifeless and bleak, his lips never moved as Stiles heard the voice, just like his own, inside his head, “Insurance.” Stiles felt a chill of unease to have someone else’s voice reverberating inside his head. He pulled himself up to sit in the bed and started again. “What do you mean, insurance?” Daz stepped closer to the bed, ever looking like the predator, with his shining black claws and the cat-like way he shifted his head around being aware of his surroundings. “Mom wanted to make sure you were safe. I was supposed to protect you, to keep you alive no matter what.”

Stiles thought back to the ritual sacrifice that he Scott and Allison had done trying to find the Nemeton and figured that was where things went horribly wrong. Then it hit him that Daz calle his Mom ‘Mom’. This was all just too weird.

* * *

.The Sheriff walked up to the counter looking at Melissa a huge smile plastered on his face, “He’s awake? Is he doing okay?” Melissa  stepped around the counter, grabbed him by the arm and started pulling him down the hallway away from Stiles’ room. “Wait, where are we going? What is going on?” the Sheriff asked confused. “Stiles is fine, all his readings are normal and he looks like he is in the clear, but he seems like he needs some serious time to recover from whatever was going on in his nightmare.I might even suggest that he talk to a therapist because he looks like he has seen some serious shit!” she continued talking while still practically dragging the Sheriff along in tow. “The doctor is going to want to do an MRI and will be uncomfortable discharging him without keeping him for observation for a few more days. You can stop in and say hi, but first I need to show you something in the sleeper ward.”

 

Jonathan follows along beside Melissa as they quickly walk to the psych ward where the sleepers are being kept. “I found it after I found a man wandering around in the ward, I don’t know if he was the one who put it there or what, but I also found a vase of flowers on a bed near the door.”

Melissa stopped at the door looking up and down the hallway for anyone around, then pushed the door open. The Sheriff stepped quietly in the room and Melissa watched him with interest. “What are you doing?” she asked, lifting her eyebrows at him as she stepped through the doorway. “I, uh, was trying to be quiet, there are people sleeping.” Melissa giggled, “It’s not like they are going to wake up anytime soon.” She loudly spoke, “Isn’t that right?” The sleeping forms didn’t even change breathing.

She pushed the door closed and there behind the door, carved into the surface was a symbol similar to the ones that had appeared on Stiles’ chest. “Take a picture of it and text it to Alan, see if he knows what it is.” He turned to admire the flowers and stopped to look at them a little closer. “I think this is wolfbane.” Melissa turned around from taking the picture, “Are you sure?” The Sheriff reached out to crush the leaf between his fingers. “I think so, I kind of remember seeing it on Stiles computer when he was looking info up online. I didn’t think it was supposed to be in bloom, someone must be growing this indoors.” He pressed his fingertips together again. “Yeah, they are starting to get numb. Not sure who put this in here, but I’m pretty sure why. They must be trying to keep the werewolves away from the sleepers. Stiles said that wolfsbane, while in bloom, gives off pollen spores that will wreck a werewolf’s sense of smell and cause some serious pain too.” Melissa moved to grab the vase but the Sheriff stopped her, “It isn’t going to hurt the people in the room unless they touch it, and I think maybe we should leave it here for the time being, until we find out more about who put it here.”

Melissa’s phone chimed signalling a reply from Alan, she pulled it out and read the screen, “A mark to prevent the entrance of certain magical creatures. Check the floor, probably a ring of mountain ash as well.” Melissa opened the door and noticed black powder pressed into the grooves in the threshold, it connected to a thin line of power that ran around the outside of the room right up against the wall. “Someone is serious about protecting these people,” Melissa said, “I really hope that we aren’t helping the bad guys.”

The Sheriff rubbed his hand across his face wiping nervously at the 5 o’clock stubble that had grown in, “I think anyone that keeps people alive instead of killing them like Jennifer did, is at least due the benefit of the doubt.” He pulled the door open, “I really just want to go and see my son for a minute before going home to crash. It has been a rough couple days.”

Melissa pushed past him and they walked down the hall back toward the main part of the hospital. As soon as they rounded the corner, a tall thin figure walked in from the other end of the hall. Her fingernails looked like polished glass as her hand pressed against the door, but she quickly pulled it back hissing in pain. A high angry voice growled out, “Meddlesome humans are playing with powers they can’t even begin to comprehend!” With that she stalked back the way she came, her heels clicking loudly against the tile hallway.

* * *

 

Stiles had continued asking Daz questions, and was getting used to hearing another voice inside his head. He even stopped for a moment to question his sanity. Perhaps he was schizophrenic and his mind was filling in the blanks with a vision of himself to offset the voices in his head. He continued to think this for several minutes, he thought about what his future would be like and even wished that his cell phone wasn’t dead so that he could pull it out and do some research on treatment. Then he reached for a glass of water and Daz leaned over to hand it to him. That pretty much blew that theory up.

He found out through Daz that his Mother, who Daz also called Mom, had great difficulty conceiving a child. She had lost two children to miscarriage and was not going to go through the pain of that loss again. She had experimented with dangerous magics to make her body a more fertile place for a baby to grow. Stiles also found out what Daz really was. Not being happy with the growth spell cast on her body she also summoned a fæcce, a wraith or type of doppelganger. He was a second spirit, who incase Stiles died would replace his life-force and he would live on.

Stiles understood now why Daz called himself ‘insurance’.

 

Apparently his mother’s side of the family must have strong ties to magic and even though he never saw any of them, he was going to find out more about this magic and what he needed to know about it. It made him angry that all this had been done and he knew nothing about it.

About the time that Stiles had really worked himself into a fit, there was a knock on the door, and his father popped his head in.

“Hey kiddo, you have no idea how good it is to see you awake. I was so worried.” Stiles was not smiling, he looked pissed. “Why didn’t you ever tell me?” The Sheriff stepped through the door a confused look on his face. Definitely not the attitude he was expecting from his kid who had just woke up from a coma. “Stiles, I don’t know what you are talking about. You wanna help me out?”

He stepped further into the room and Stiles crossed his arms angrily across his chest looking away from his father’s face. He took a slow deep breath. “While I was asleep, being tortured by horrible nightmare, after horrible nightmare, I also had several visions of my past...stuff that happened before I was born even. I don’t can’t tell you how, but I know deep down that it is true, and I just thought that you would have told me by now. Everything that has been going on and all this supernatural crap that we have been dealing with, I thought that I could trust you.”

His Dad sat down in the chair right next to Daz, Stiles noticed that his Dad didn’t seem to see Daz there and the wheels in his head kept spinning. The look on his father’s face said that he did have a secret that he had been keeping for a long time. He leaned forward putting his elbows on the blankets of the bed, “I’m going to need a little more to go on than that Stiles.” Stiles scowled lifting his eyebrows, “Oh?” He blew a quick breath out his nose, “exactly how many huge secrets are you keeping from me Dad?” He sat looking at the man that had raised him, the man that had held him as he cried missing his mother, the man that had been there for him and couldn’t help but lose some of his anger. “You know what I am talking about, one very magical night, long long ago?” He put emphasis on ‘magical’ and watched the color drain out of his father’s face.

Daz moved up behind Stiles’ Dad and leaned over his shoulder, Stiles felt a jolt of panic grip his heart not knowing what Daz might be up to. Daz whispered inside his head, 'He is definitely hiding something,' Daz sounded curiously excited,  'his heart is racing and I can smell his sweat in the air.' Stiles tried to talk back to Daz inside his head, 'Just, please don’t hurt him.' He thought it as hard as he could. Daz cocked his head to the side like a confused puppy, 'I am not going to hurt anyone who isn’t trying to harm you.'

Stiles’ Dad sat back into the chair rubbing both hands down his face and looked seriously uncomfortable. “Stiles, I don’t want to make any excuses for my actions, but you have to think about how this might make other people feel if they found out. You aren’t the only one affected here.” Now Stiles was the one confused, but he wasn’t about to let it show. “Imagine how Scott would feel,” he cleared his throat, “It was a really rough patch for you mother and I after the second miscarriage and she kept putting walls up to keep me out, I was trying to help her with the loss of the babies, I really wanted to be there for her, but she kept pushing me away. She would disappear for days at a time and I had no idea where she was, or who she was with… what she was doing.”

He looked tired, huffed out a sigh and leaned forward onto his elbows looking toward the floor, “It was just one somewhat drunken night, and Melissa and I said that we would never speak of it again. It would have ruined both our marriages.”

Realization dawned on Stiles that his Dad and he were talking about two totally different secrets, and he was not about to stop him. He had been talking about how Scott would feel, a drunken night between Melissa and himself, “So,” Stiles interrupted and paused. “you are saying that you cheated on Mom?.... with Melissa?” Try as hard as he could, he couldn’t keep his voice from cracking a little. The Sheriff looked up, “Oh God, that isn’t what you were talking about was it?”

Stiles’ mouth just hung open. Inside his head everything was going a million miles an hour, then the calm curious voice of Daz interrupted, 'does that mean Scott is your brother?'

Stiles closed his mouth and softly said, “Scott?” Stiles Dad looked down at the floor “I never had a paternity test done, but Melissa said there is no doubt that he is my son.”

* * *

 

Ethan was sitting in the dark in Deucalion’s condo as he listened to the sounds of the people in the building. Finally he heard the sound he had been waiting on, Aiden walking down the hall from the elevator. He had healed up completely and he was sure that Aiden had as well, but something was seriously wrong.

The sound of the key in the door was loud against the silence in the condo. The tumblers scraped against each other as the key was turned and Aiden pushed the door open bathing the room in light from the hallway. Ethan stood up and growled a soft rumble in his chest, his eyes glowing blue in the darkness. “Yeah, me too.” Aiden said shifting just enough for the blue of his eyes to glow. “I could tell something was wrong when I wasn’t healing as quickly. Looks like going a round with McCall screwed things up pretty seriously.” He sighed, “But I figured this would happen eventually. We need to figure out what we are going to do, if we go Omega, you know we won’t be stable, and as ‘changed’ as Chris and Allison claim to be, I doubt that the are going to hesitate to put down two rabid wolves.”

Ethan stood up and crossed the room, “I told you when Deucalion disappeared that we were going to have to convince Scott to let us in his pack. I don’t know why we haven’t already talked to him about it.” Aiden pushed past Ethan flipping on the light in the kitchen and leaned against the counter. “I hoped Deucalion would be coming back, but I guess not. You know I had thought if you would just submit to my leadership everything would be fine.” Ethan moved to sit on the barstool, “You know as well as I do, the only way we are a real Alpha is merged. We aren’t real Alphas separately, there is no way I can submit to half an Alpha.” Even though Aiden was turned away from him, he could see the cold blue glow of his eyes as he stared at his reflection in the chrome of the toaster. “And it doesn't matter now anyway. We aren't even half an Alpha anymore.”

“So, how do we convince McCall that he wants us in his one man pack?” Ethan walked into the kitchen next to his twin. “I am pretty sure, keeping him from killing anyone gives us some serious points on Scott’s scale. You know how emotional he gets about people dying. Maybe we can convince him a larger pack will make his Alpha easier to control?”

Aiden smiled, “He does freak out a lot over a little death. But, yeah, that could work. If he thinks that having us in his pack will keep him from hurting people, he might go for it. All I know is we need a pack. With Deucalion gone, all the people that Deucalion pissed off could easily make us seriously regret being associated with the Demon Wolf.”

* * *

 

Lydia sat in her car outside the hospital looking at the birthmark on her wrist. Any people walking by might have considered reporting her to the hospital if they had a working psych ward. It had never been there before. It HAD never been there before, she kept repeating it in her head over and over. She started emphasizing ‘had’ first, and then ‘never’. It was like she was doing some kind of self help mantra.

She dropped her hand into her lap for a second looking out into the parking lot. The radio was on playing soft music in the background and the windows were open just enough to let a breeze blow through. She looked around wondering how long she had sat there after leaving Stiles in the hospital bed. She knew, she just KNEW, that she had done something to wake him up. She had watched his temperature slowly rise and Melissa thought the same thing, she could tell that she was serious when she told Lydia she wasn’t to leave. When his eyes cracked open and he smiled at her it was probably more shocking for her than it was for him. And here she was sitting in the hospital parking lot wondering what in the hell she was.

She picked her hand up, flipped her wrist around and looked at the birthmark again. “This birthmark does not exist!” She said it will absolute certainty and watched in shock as it faded away. She stared at her wrist for a second, rubbed her finger across the skin, then pulled out her phone and flipped through her pictures. The bracelet pictures were all there, and none of them had the birthmark in them. Her mind was buzzing and she thought about the photo album at home. She bet that if she drove home right now and looked, the baby picture wouldn’t have a birthmark on it any more.

This all defied logic, and if Lydia was anything, she was logical.

She reached up turning the key in the ignition and decided it the only person she could trust  that knew anything about the supernatural world would be Scott’s boss. She hoped that he was still at work.

* * *

 

Jason pulled into the gas station on his way home and seriously felt better about his life than he ever had before. He didn’t have to worry about his disease any more, he was amazingly strong, and he had fell into a group of friends overnight. It was like all his thoughts of a normal life were coming true all in one day. Only thing left would be to get an amazing girlfriend and he would be set.

He put the car in park and pulled the keys out of the ignition to push the door open, hop out of the car and stretch his arms into the air. He flipped open the gas cover and twisted off the gas cap. He glanced over to the other pump where a gothic chick was watching him with a scowl on her face. He ducked his head back around the pump and swiped his card, putting the pump in the car. It was just before the overwhelming smell of gasoline wafted through the air the he could have sworn he smelled Scott.

He left the pump in the car and looked around. The scent was gone now, covered up by the smell of gas, but he didn’t see Scott anywhere. As he was looking out away from the gas station, thinking the scent might be blowing on the wind, he heard a boot scruff against the pavement behind him and went to turn around.

His shirt was gripped in the short gothic girl’s hand and she pulled his face down to her’s, “Why do you smell like I want to rub my face against your face? And don’t get any freaky ideas about that actually happening cause you are seriously barking up the wrong tree.” He didn’t know if it was her grabbing his shirt, or the ‘barking up the wrong tree’ that startled him more, but it made him think that she might know what he is, and Scott had warned him about hunters.

Jason’s eyes glowed a bright gold and when the gothic chick dropped his shirt, stepping back in fear, her eyes glowed gold as well. “Oh, shit, what the fuck..” the chick was stammering as she stepped backward and then turned to run to her car.

Jason thought about chasing after her, but she was scared and if he was honest, he didn’t know what she would do if he caused her to shift, and he really didn’t want to find out what he would do it he shifted out of fear or anger if she attacked him. He pulled out his cell and dialed Scott’s number. Scott picked up, “Hey man, what’s up?” Jason looked around nervously, “I just ran into another member of your pack at the gas station on the corner of 19th and Anderson.” Scott was quiet for a minute, “Are you sure?” Jason replied, “She smelled like you and told me I smelled like she wanted to rub her face on my face. … that and when she startled me and my eyes changed, so did hers. But she took off, I think seeing my eyes glow seriously freaked her out.” “Shit. Shit. Okay, I’ll be there in a minute.”

Jason watched as a red haired woman came out of the gas station walking toward her SUV, he recognized her from the vet, she paused to look at him then pulled open the door of her SUV and started talking loudly to her dog. Jason thought that he hope she hadn’t seen anything that happened just a moment ago.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The poem by Robert Frost is one of my favorites. I hope that you like it as well.


	5. The Spaces Between

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Scott, Isaac, and Jason meet yet another member of their pack but things don't go as smoothly as Jason had. Isaac questions the feeling developing for Scott and Scott's new idiosyncrasies as a pack leader. Scott seems to be adapting as well as he can.
> 
> The situation with the ward of sleepers hangs unresolved with the good doctor counting on multiples upon multiples of persons to join the ranks of the land of Nod. 
> 
> Daz question's the trust that Stiles puts in Scott's employer Alan Deaton, Alan question Stiles' ability to understand and deal with what is happening to him, and Stiles, well, Stiles questions everything. 
> 
> After a thought filled afternoon accompanied by a interesting new secret, Allison finally takes a well deserved moment to relax and everything but relaxation happens.

 

Jonathan doesn’t even think to ask what the secret Stiles was trying to hint to earlier. He is kicking himself for not stopping to think about what he was saying before he blurted it out. He just walks over to the bed and reaches out to touch his son on the shoulder. “Stiles, It was a long time ago son,” he paused and Stiles refused to look up, “I told your mother all about it. We fought about it, she yelled and screamed at me, we both cried and in the end she forgave me, it made our marriage stronger. She finally let me in and let me help her, and she helped me, together we got through it. When you finally came along we were so happy that all that was just water under the bridge. She agreed that we shouldn’t tell you or tell Scott, and that Melissa could tell Seth or not, it was up to her. Before she passed she told me that she never regretted anything in our marriage, and that it was up to me to tell you when I thought you were ready.” Stiles pulled his shoulder away from his father’s hand. “I never told you because I never wanted you to feel the way that you feel right now. I never told you because I didn’t want to hurt you.” Stiles cleared his throat, “I just want to be alone for a little while if that’s okay?”

The Sheriff moved around the bed closer to the door. “Stiles, I know you know that I am not perfect, nobody is, but…” He pulls the door open slowly, and the light from the hallway throws his face into stark contrast. Stiles knows he has put his father through a lot of shit over the years and he shouldn’t hold on to this, but it is just too shocking, and he is still so raw from his nightmares, he can’t forgive him, not yet. Jonathan lets out a sigh before turning back to face Stiles, “every father wants to be perfect in the eyes of their child.” He stood the doorway for a moment and pressed his hand against the frame. “If you need me for anything... call me.”

The door closed behind Jonathan and Stiles looked over at Daz. He thought toward him ‘I suppose you knew all about this?’ Daz had his constantly passive face on as he shook his head yes. ‘Why didn’t you tell me?’ Stiles growled at the wraith. Daz replied inside Stiles’ head, ‘It had not come up.’ Stiles looks back toward the closed door. It was so confusing the way he felt knowing that his father had been keeping something like this from him his whole life. It made him feel guilty that he had also been keeping things from his father. But this was something huge, he had cheated on Stiles’ mother, and the fact that she was gone now made it feel even worse.

Daz moved closer to the door listening to the voices outside. “What are you doing?” Stiles asked annoyed by the whole situation. ‘Your father is telling Melissa about his slip of the tongue.’ He turns to face Stiles, ‘She is worried that you will tell Scott and ruin what little relationship he has with the man who raised him as his son.’ Stiles laughed, ‘Yeah, I am going to ruin Scott’s non-existent relationship with his Dad.’ Stiles stopped to think about it from Scott’s point of view, how he would feel if he found out his parents had kept a huge secret from him and his whole life was a lie. He laughed dryly, ‘I guess he would feel about like I feel now. Like shit.’

Stiles huffed out a breath, “So, I don’t tell Scott for now.” He picked up his dead cell phone again and realized he never asked his Dad to bring him a charger. “I really need to think about something else.” He sat the phone on the table next to the bed, batting away a helium balloon with a slow leak that was drooping next to the bed. “How about you tell me why, if you are supposed to be here to protect me, you were using my body to kill all my friends, over and over again in my dreams?”

‘The dreams were not really me,’ Daz says, ‘the Fae wants to keep you afraid and see what it takes to make you break.’ He rubbed his face nervously while eyeing Das and his emotionless mask. “By Fae, you mean a fairy?” Stiles fought back a laugh. Daz shook his head yes, ‘They are not the dainty little pixies you humans portray them to be. They are powerful beings from another realm outside of this one.’ Stile rearranged the blankets on the bed as he thought there was no way to either prove or disprove anything Daz said, he just needed to bide his time and figure things out. ‘You are right not to believe me without proof, I will be patient while your trust in me is built, but I will stay to protect you as Mother ordered.’

Stiles jerks his head around back to Daz and says aloud, “Are none of my thoughts private??” Daz moved closer to the bed. ‘We are as two spirits in one body, I am as much you as you are you. Anything you think is as my thoughts. I share your worries and concerns.’ Daz moves to the other side of the bed, ‘I was summoned by your Mother to protect you, but I will not kill without reason or your permission. You need not worry about the safety of your friends or that of your father.’ Daz reached over to hand Stiles the cup of water that he didn’t realize he was thinking about,  ‘But the Fae, she was summoned here to test your limits, and those of the other sacrifices. She wants you to be distressed and see if you will give in to the darkness of the Nemeton. You have nothing to fear from the Nemeton’s power, I have sealed it away, but I can’t say the same of your friends. The Fae will not take kindly to my interference.’

Stiles still couldn’t trust the creature that stood in front of him, not yet at least. Daz looked out toward the hall, ‘I do not blame you, I would not trust me either. I will be patient. You should try to rest.’

* * *

Alan is sitting at a light waiting for it to change. He is on his way to talk to Stiles and get his blood sample. The radio turns off and a pleasant woman’s voice says, incoming call from Mrs. West. He hits accept on the touch screen on the dash.

“Hannah, to what do I owe the pleasure of speaking to you twice in one day?” Hannah doesn’t seem to care for his tone. “Alan, you need to do something about your pet project or they are going to put the entire supernatural world on the 6 o’clock news!”

The light changes and Alan continues toward the hospital. “Hannah, calm down and tell me what happened.” Hannah huffs, it is pretty apparent that she doesn’t like being told to calm down. “I was just at the gas station and Scott’s newest member was out in public flashing his eyes at another wolf, I recognized the girl. Sam, she was coming to the hospital several months ago for cancer treatment. Maintaining secrecy is just as important as maintaining balance Druid, lest I have to remind you what happens when the public finds out about things they don’t understand.” Alan turned into the hospital lot and parked. “I will talk to Scott, but you know as well as I do that controlling newly bitten wolves is easier said than done.”

“Just keep a leash on the damn dogs. You seem to forget that we are small fish in a very very large pond! I think that we are all dealing with enough without adding the media to this! Do something or I will!” Hannah hangs up before Alan can say anything more.

Alan leans back into his headrest and rubs at his temples. This has seriously been stressful on everyone lately.

* * *

Samantha had raced straight home, ran two stop lights, almost hit a bicyclist. She parked in the middle of the driveway and ran to the front door completely ignoring Mrs. Ottis as she said hello, almost kicked the cat as it bowed it’s back right in the middle of her path hissing at her, and she knocked over the planter her Mom had filled with tulip bulbs that never sprouted. She slammed the door closed behind her and locked it, but still felt uneasy.

She stared out the glass of the front door listening to her heart pounding in her chest. Her Mom was working at the supermarket and her brother was out playing baseball with his friends, so she was all alone in the house. She turned to face the kitchen and leaned back against the door and let out a slow controlled breath.

Get ahold of yourself Sam, it was probably just a pair of contacts and a trick of the light, you probably freaked out over nothing. Lying to herself wasn’t working, she knew his eyes were nearly black-brown and glowed a serious gold color when she startled him, he even looked like he grew fangs. She walked to the fridge and pulled it open to grab a soda out of the door. When the door shut she didn’t notice the gold glow in the reflection of the stainless steel as she pulled the tab back and took a deep swig from the can.

Sam pulls the basement door open and walks down the stairs still feeling on edge and sits down at her desk. She closes her eyes and remembers back to the exercises that her nurse Meg had taught her to do when she was getting chemo. Just slow breaths, counting in to ten and then blowing out to ten. Meg said the meditation would help ease the nausea and discomfort. She tried to will her heart beat to slow and continued counting breaths.

She lost track of how long she was meditating when she heard a car pull into her driveway. It was odd how easy to hear it was. The doors slammed closed, again, it was strange how well she could hear everything that was going on outside.

A guys voice started, “This is definitely the car she was driving, I remember the equality sticker and the coexist bumper sticker.” He was the one from the gas station, she remembered the sound of his voice. Another guy’s voice chimed in, “I can definitely smell her on the car, you are right it does smell a little like Scott, but not really Scott.” A third voice interrupted, “That is just the pack smell, all of you smell like that, not just me. She also smells panicked.” The third voice must be Scott, Sam thought. What the hell does he mean, he can smell me?? And what the hell is pack smell? These guys are freaks. She started walking up the stairs from the basement wanting to get out of the basement in case she needed to make a run for it. Her karate classes from years ago helped her walk as quietly as possible. She hoped that she wasn’t as loud as they were being.

Gas station guy started talking again, “So, what are we going to do, she seriously tripped out when she saw my eyes glow. How does someone get bit and not know something is going on?” Scott replied, “If you have no idea what exactly is going on, making the connection to werewolf is a bit of a stretch for most people. I didn’t even figure it out until Stiles told me what was going on. You didn’t know what happened to you until I ran into you at the coffee shop.”

Sam opened the basement door and looked out the front. A werewolf? Is this some kind of nerd D&D cult gone wrong? They were just standing next to the car talking like they belonged there. The tall gas station guy was accompanied by another slightly shorter guy with curly hair and a darker skinned boy with short dark hair. Luckily none of them were looking her way. She moved to the stairs to go to her brother’s room. He has a baseball bat and other things that could be used as a weapon.

Why was no one in the street freaking out about three guys standing next to their car, loudly discussing how they smell the girl in the house, and that that she is a werewolf? She stopped about half way up the stairs. She focused her attention on the watch she could see on the coffee table in the livingroom. Suddenly it’s ticking was like it was right in her ear.

She looked out the window and saw Mrs. Otis talking on the phone. She tilted her head a little to the side and heard Mrs. Otis, the woman that never raised her voice above conversation levels, talking like she was in the same room. “... never seen her act like that before, walked right by without even acknowledging that I was talking to her. I hope she hasn’t gotten mixed up with drugs, her Mother has a hard enough time as it is…” She stopped listening and focused back on the boys.  

Scott was talking again, he seemed to be in charge, “We don’t want to scare her, but take it from me, when you are out of control, scared or angry, you can shift without meaning to, and we can seriously hurt people without meaning to.” Someone sat down on the hood of the car and it plunked like metal does when flexing. The tall curly headed spoke, “Well, we are starting to look kind of suspicious just sitting in the front yard looking like members of a gang or something.”

Sam was having a hard time hearing them from where she was in the house. She turned her head to look the other way and tilted her neck a little. When she did she caught her reflection in one of the family photos hanging along the stairs. Her eyes were glowing just like the other boys had been.

This was real. She was a werewolf.

That explained the bite, it explained the bruise healing. It hit her like a ton of bricks. That explained why she wasn’t feeling any effects from the cancer. Did getting bit by a werewolf cure her leukemia?

She finished walking up the stairs and stepped into the bathroom. Her eyes were kind of pretty like this, seriously freaking disturbing, but really pretty. The blue highlights in her hair accentuated the gold eyes nicely. She thought how wicked it would look with some make-up on.

They were walking up to the front door. Their footfalls were heavy on the wooden porch. Lanky curls says, “Should we just knock and hope for the best?” Someone knocks on the door three times. It is seriously loud with her amplified hearing. Sam moves to her brother’s room and grabs a bat from inside his closet. She thinks to herself, one girl with a bat against three werewolves, pretty sure this isn’t going to go well.

The doorknob rattled as one of the boys tries to see if it is open. Gas station boy says, “Maybe the backdoor is open?” She hears their footfalls lead off the porch and the scrape of their feet dragging against the concrete walk. Scott says, “Lets just try not to scare her any more than we already have. If I have to roar to get her to submit we are going to draw all kinds of attention. Hopefully she has good control over her emotions like you Jason.” The gate to the back lot is opened with a squeak and the latch ratchets closed behind them. Gas station boy’s name is Jason. The cat screeches then hisses and she hears it climb the wooden fence. Jason pipes up, “Wow Scott, you weren’t kidding about cats not liking us.” Scott laughs, “Isaac, go knock on the door, I think I smell something I want to check out.”

Sam felt a pain in the hand she was gripping the baseball bat with and glanced down to see her fingers had grown claws. Claws. She had claws. She looked into the mirror her brother had on the back of his door. Her nose and eyebrows looked different, almost feral. She bared her teeth at her reflection, they were definitely sharp. The Scott guy said that she had to stay in control. Sam closed her eyes and counted a deep breath in, 10. 9. 8. 7. 6. 5. 4. 3. 2. 1. Isaac’s shoes scraped up the concrete block steps on the back door. She breathed the breath back out. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. When she opened her eyes they were her normal bright green, her eyebrows and nose were normal as well. Isaac knocked at the door five times, “Hello, Is any one home? Hello??” Under his breath he added, “I’ll huff and I’ll puff and I’ll blow your house down.” She looked down to her hands and the claws were gone. He yelled, “Scott, she must have left the car here and ran somewhere else, for all we know she is calling the police. I think we need to bail. What are you two doing over there?”

No sense being afraid of them, she thought. She was exactly what they were talking about. She was one of them. She walked over to the window and looked out into the backyard. The boy named Scott was looking in the shed that her brother had been raving was haunted for the past 3 weeks.   
She slid the window up slowly and stepped quietly out on to the roof. Scott was saying, “I can smell myself in this shed.” He looked up as Isaac jogged over to where Scott and Jason were. “I think that I must have been watching her for some time now, but I don’t remember ever coming here.” Jason interjected, “I saw odd footprints in my backyard too, but I didn’t really think anything about it. We have out landscaping done professionally, but they weren’t boot prints, they were sneakers.” The house was down-wind of the backyard and Scott’s scent blew across the grass and Sam caught the smell. He definitely smelled like pack, she didn’t know what it meant, but it was true.   
Scott looked back to Jason, “I think that Isaac is right, maybe we could come back some other time. She is already scared and we don’t need to make it worse. I just,.... I really don’t want anyone else to get hurt.” They started walking toward the gate and Sam watched from the roof. A thought popped into her head just as they walked underneath her, lets try out this werewolf thing.

She dropped from the roof and landed behind the group of boys just as they reached the gate. She didn’t know how, but she could tell her eyes were glowing as she looked up. Jason ran into Isaac taking them both to the ground, and Scott took a defensive stance, his eyes glowing red. Sam stands from her crouch, ignoring the odd instinct to bare her neck to Scott, and smiles defiant, “You know, for werewolves you guys don’t pay much attention to your sense of hearing. Just like boys to wander around sniffing everything I suppose.” Scott looks miffed but walks in front of the other two boys still trying to untangle themselves and get up. He looks the girl up and down. She is shorter than Lydia but had a little muscle on her, her dark hair was highlighted with flecks of blue and she was dressed in mostly black. “I’m Scott.” Sam interrupts, “I know who you are,” she says arrogantly while pointing to each of them, “Scott, the lanky one with the curly hair is Isaac, and the tall one with the long, dark hair is Jason, I told you, I listen and pay attention.”

Scott stops and lifts an eyebrow, “You have been listening to us the whole time?” Sam leans back looking smug, “We all smell like you, or rather we all smell like pack, which smells like you, I am guessing cause you are in charge.” Scott interjects, “The Alpha.” Sam continues, “ Jason is new like me, you met at the coffee shop this morning, only one of you doesn’t drag their feet when walking, my cat is going to hate me forever... thanks for that by the way, and Isaac here is apparently a fan of the three little pigs.” Isaac looked up at her somewhat surprised as Scott looked impressed then eyed Isaac confused. “OH! And you are the jerk that bit my hand and pushed my face into a brick wall the other night outside Minx, and you are also the one that has been creeping in my Mom’s garden shed giving my brother nightmares about a monster with glowing red eyes for the past 3 weeks, but since you turned me into a werewolf, and somehow cured my leukemia, I guess I owe you my gratitude. Does that about sum things up?”   

Scott looked back at Jason and Isaac, “That’s two for two dudes, my Mom is seriously on to something.”

* * *

When the elevator door open Alan sees Melissa and Sheriff Stilinski talking next to the desk. Melissa looks up at him when he steps out of the car and from the look on her face she doesn’t look like she is in the mood to chat, but he has to ask her about the sleepers, so he approaches slowly to give them a chance to finish up. Before Jonathan notices him the last thing he hears is “..it’s completely up to you if you tell him, and Stiles knows that it isn’t his business to tell, so… Oh, Hey Dr. Deaton.”

Alan smiles, “I’m glad to hear that Stiles passed his test, but unfortunately we have something more to deal with. Have they told you about the talisman that I am making for them?” Melissa nods her head and the Sheriff replies, “I got the basics from Melissa.” Melissa nodded, “Scott called to tell me about it, he said to expect you to come visit Stiles, but I haven’t had a chance to talk to him.” Jonathan broke in, “You think this will help with the nightmares?” Alan crosses his arms in front of his chest, “You already knew about the nightmares?”

Jonathan huffs out a laugh, “Yeah, Stiles thinks that he gets away with a lot more secrets than he actually does. He has been sneaking around the house at 2 in the morning pretending like I didn’t just hear him screaming 10 minutes earlier. I tried checking on him the first couple times it happened, but it just seemed to embarrass him, so I tried to let him handle it on his own.”

Alan looks like he is thinking for a second. “The talisman should protect them from outside magical influence, but it will just take a little time to prepare, and unfortunately your old badge will be destroyed,” he looks at Melissa, “as will your wrist watch.” Melissa just shakes her head yes like it is fine and the Sheriff answers, “That thing was pretty much destroyed when Jennifer crushed it. Its at the house, I can drop it off at the clinic for you later, maybe tomorrow?.” Alan nods. The Sheriff leans forward closing the space between the Vet and himself, “Any news about the sleepers?”

Alan takes a deep breath, “The ritual is something I don’t have much knowledge of, I have a friend that told me what she could about it. The sleepers themselves should not be in any danger. My friend seems to think that it is a type of self sacrifice, but a relinquishment of the force of will.” Melissa steps forward looking around the quiet hallways. “The sleepers all commit their life force and relinquish their will to one individual who then uses their power to achieve a single goal.” Both Jonathan and Melissa look wide eyed. Melissa blinks and says, “So someone is planning something big and they need as many people as possible to participate?”

Alan looks over his shoulder when the elevator opens and a doctor steps out to walk down the hallway. “The more people they have the stronger, but they aren’t going for mass numbers, they will be going for a specific number. The Druids would follow a trinity set, three people, or three sets of three people. I don’t know that this will be the same or not.”

The Sheriff rubs his hand across his face, “So we don’t know if we are done at nine or if there will be three sets of three sets of three… ugh, all this is just getting old.”

Alan shrugged his shoulders, “The best we can hope for is that their purpose is good, the only other option would be to sever the connection to their power.” Melissa stepped forward, “You mean, kill the sleepers.” Alan frowned, “Yes, if necessary. That is why the door to their room has wards and protection on it. They are hoping that the hospital is the safest place for them. I need to get a blood sample from Stiles, if you hear anything else or have any further questions, please give me a call.”

Alan walks to Stiles room eavesdropping on Jonathan and Melissa, “Remember what I said about Scott, just … give me a heads up if you do tell him.”

Alan couldn’t help being curious about what was going on, but with this town, the secrets were always plentiful, and there weren’t enough hours in the day to sort them all out. As he pushes the door open he hears Stiles talking to someone and expects to interrupt him and his company.

* * *

It was just so damned awkward and uncomfortable loving someone and trying so hard not to. She kept thinking about it the whole way as she drove from the Vet clinic. Scott was her first love, she was never going to have another first love, but it was just so complicated. It shouldn’t be THIS hard to be with someone. Life shouldn’t be that unfair. And Isaac was an amazing person too, but she didn’t know what she was thinking about with him, he was a werewolf too, and he was in Scott’s pack, it just made things even more complicated.

She suddenly realized that she had no idea where she was going and had been zone driving for the past ten minutes. She looked around and realized she was headed somewhere familiar when she pulled up to the driveway to their old house. Stupid. They hadn’t lived there since the summer in France.

Her Dad had decided to sell the house after all the bad memories that lived there. Allison agreed with him. She didn’t want to think about the fact that her Mom had died in that very house, that people had been tortured in the basement. She pulled up into the driveway and noticed the ‘for sale’ sign in the yard. She cut the engine and sat back in the seat leaning back into the headrest. The radio was playing a song that was popular back when Scott and she had just started dating, and she closed her eyes and let the memories wash over her.

Her cell phone chimed. She drew in a deep breath slowly, and exhaled trying to just relax back into her memories. She could remember Scott pulling her behind the bleachers and kissing her softly after practice, he was all sweaty, but it didn’t even…  Her phone chimed again. She let out a huff and looked out the at the front yard, it needed to be mowed. She would let her Dad know that it wasn’t going to sell looking like it was abandoned. Her phone chimed again and she finally grabbed her purse to fish through and find it in the mess. “Let’s see who is blowing up my phone.” she whispered talking to herself.

Isaac to Allison: Scott mentioned meeting up with you at the clinic, are you okay?

Isaac to Allison: I know I am probably not the best person to talk to about this, but I am here if you need an ear.

Isaac to Allison: Just hope you are okay. TTYL

Allison smiled, he was so sweet to think about her and check on her, but he was right, talking to him about the complexities of her relationship issues would be like talking to her Dad about girl problems. She could just imagine how awkward it would be watching Isaac’s face fall when she talked about how much she still cared about Scott. And then trying to explain that she liked him too, but honestly she didn’t think that she could be with either one of them at this point in her life.

She really just wanted to get one good night’s sleep and not have to worry about seeing her Aunt in her nightmares ever again.

Allison to Isaac: Thanks for checking on me, I just need to have some time to think about things. The nemeton nightmares don’t make things any easier. So exhausted!

Isaac to Allison: I get it, I really do… It is complicated for me too. Can you keep a secret?...probably makes things even more complicated. =/

Allison stopped and did a double take at her phone. What is Isaac up to now? She drummed her fingers against her lips thinking about how to respond. Secret keeping is something she imagined doing with her girl friends, not a guy that she kinda liked. What could the secret be anyway, probably something silly that a boy might think is a big deal. What the hell.

Allison to Isaac: Absolutely, keeping secrets is a family gift. =) What’s up? Everything okay with you?

She waited for the reply, she licked across her dry lips somewhat nervously. Seconds seemed like minutes, seemed like hours and she sent a quick message to Lydia to see if she was up for a coffee date tomorrow. Still no reply from Isaac, she just shook her head and tossed the phone down on the passenger seat grabbing the keys and starting the vehicle. She turned up the radio a little and rolled the windows down to let the wind blow through her hair while she drove home. The phone chimed just before she put the car in drive. It was ridiculous how quickly she grabbed the phone to look at the message.

Isaac to Allison: Okay, yeah...no, not okay, definitely not okay. I think I have developed a bit of a crush on Scott. =/

Allison just stared at the phone. Yeah, that does make things a little more awkward.

* * *

 

Stiles hears the door opening and realizes that he has been talking out loud to Daz for who knows how long. He quickly grabs his phone off the nightstand and says, “Okay, I will talk to you later.”

Alan steps around the door to smile at Stiles. “I am glad to see you awake.” Stiles smiles back at him and Alan notices him glance to an empty corner of the room. “You have no idea how glad I am to BE awake.” He sits the phone face down on the hospital bed table in front of him. “After all the nightmares I had the everyday tension of real life is really a dream come true.”

‘He smells like magic Stiles, are you in danger?’ Daz looks excited to have a chance to act. Stiles remembers to think it and not say it out loud, ‘No, Alan is not a threat. Just stay where you are.’

Alan moved to the side of the bed, “Do you mind if I take a look at your chest?” Stiles pokes his bottom lip out and shrugs, “Sure, but you really should buy a guy dinner first.” Alan rolls his eyes but doesn’t notice that Stiles seems to be forcing the humor more than usual. “Looks like any trace of the mark is gone, I guess this means that you passed your test, or possibly your first test.”

‘The Fae will not lay a finger on you Stiles,’ Daz growls, ‘this was the one and only test you will endure.’

When Alan looks back up at Stiles, he is looking back into the corner with a furrowed brow. Alan follows his gaze to the corner and Stiles coughs, “What ya looking at over there doc?” Alan looks back at Stiles somewhat confused. “I was actually about to ask you the same thing.” He moves to sit in the empty chair, “I wanted to talk to you about your dreams actually. What was going on while you were asleep?”

‘Are you sure that you trust this man Stiles? How well do you know him? How do you know he isn’t working with the Fae?’ Daz whispered in Stiles’ head. Stiles tried to keep his face neutral as he replied to Daz, ‘I’ve known him way longer than you, Scott trusts him and he has yet to break his word.’ Daz rebutted, ‘That isn’t true Stiles, you have known me your whole life, you just don’t remember me.’

Alan leaned forward and Stiles realized that he still hadn’t replied to Alan’s question, “Are you okay Stiles? You are rarely quiet for seconds, much less minutes.” Stiles rubbed his hands nervously across his face, “Sorry Dr. D, I have been out of it after the past couple days, Ummm… yeah, the nightmares were pretty much me turning evil and killing everyone with razor sharp claws and licking their still warm blood off my fingers, but then I would wake up in the middle of an abandoned hospital that I couldn’t escape from, only to have the dream repeat itself over and over, only changing with who I killed. Sooooo, yeah, basically the very worst of all horrible things that I would ever want to see happen, happened right in front of my eyes.”

Alan’s face was blank as he blinked several times. “ummm, okay. Well, I am sorry that you had to go through all that.” He put his fist up to his mouth and coughed into it looking down at the floor for a second. “How did you manage to finally escape from the sequence of dreams?”

Stiles stopped and thought for a second. Did he really trust Alan? Scott had been working for him for awhile now, and Alan had been helping them with many different things, but what did he truly know about the vet? “I, umm… I turned around and went the only direction I hadn’t gone before, and I… well, I had to, I- had to relive the moment of my,” Stiles stopped and swallowed, it didn’t hurt so bad when he was asleep, but now that he was awake he remembered it all too clearly, “when my Mom died, I was there in the room, and, I… I must have repressed the memory until now. May have repressed a lot of memories.”

Alan looked awkward like he wanted to try to comfort Stiles but wasn’t sure how. Stiles continued, “I always thought that somehow it was my fault, deep down, I thought that I had been the cause of her dying.. I think, the only way I could get out was realizing that I wasn’t that monster that I thought I was, that I wasn’t the one that killed my Mom.”

Alan leaned back. “Stiles, I believe that in all of us resides the potential to do good or evil. No one is born to do bad things. Not to be trite, but as the old saying goes there is battle of two wolves inside us, the wolf you feed is the one that wins.” Stiles noticed himself looking back to Daz in the corner and noticed Alan watching him.

“Dr. Deaton, how much do you know about magic?” Alan tilted his head to the side. ‘I hope you know what you are doing.’ Daz huffed moving around to the other side of the bed next to Stiles. “Why do you ask such a thing Stiles?” Stiles leaned up from the pillow and pulled it down behind him wincing at the bruise on his back. “My memories of my Mom, she was talking to me about magic she had used. She had lost two children before me due to miscarriage, and she was devastated by the loss. To make sure she could conceive me and carry me to full term, she cast a fertility spell, or a growth spell on herself.”

Alan leaned back into the chair and rubbed his thumb across his goatee, “Stiles, I knew that you had a little magic in your blood when you were able to use the mountain ash powder I gave you to trap the Kanima. But… magic is in many people’s blood and they never know about it because they aren’t trained.” He paused watching Stiles listen intently. “We aren’t supposed to share secrets about magic with people, it is always passed down from parent to child. If your Mother didn’t teach you, I feel like I would be going against her wishes to do so now.”

Stiles flopped back against the pillows and instantly regretted it wincing and hissing out a pained breath. “But,” Alan began, “I also think that not preparing you for the situations that you will undoubtedly face in the future, is also irresponsible of me.”

He looked back into the corner that Stiles had been staring into earlier. “I tell you what Stiles,” He reaches over and picks up Stiles phone pressing the buttons to point out it is obviously dead, “I will teach you about magic, if you tell me what is really going on here.”

* * *

Sam seemed to have a good amount of control over her shift and that made Scott feel a lot better about not being able to get in touch with her. Unfortunately she didn’t have a cell phone, her Mom did, but she took it with her to work. She was on Facebook though, and he added her to his friends. At least she had one way to get in touch with him if she needed to.

Before they left Sam had seemed to have gotten more comfortable around the guys. Having all of them there with him was an odd feeling, he could tell they were all pack, they were all with him. It was a little overwhelming, but it also felt nice that he had helped them.

Scott was sitting in Jason’s passenger seat worrying about the full moon and what he was supposed to do with two new werewolves to make sure they didn’t wolf out and kill someone. He thought about asking Chris to add two more cages, or maybe a couple sets of shackles or something, but he was unsure how the Sheriff was going to react to having a pack of howling wolves in his basement. He realized that he still hadn’t talked to the Sheriff or Stiles about it. He could feel his anxiety building as he thought about where else he could have a secure place to set up a cage, and what would happen if he couldn’t get it set up in time. He could feel the red bleed into his eyes and tried to will himself to stay calm. It hit him that his emotions might be bleeding over to Isaac or even possibly Jason, but Isaac hadn’t said anything and he had developed a subtle hint that Scott was pushing his emotions on him by clearing his throat.

“Dude, this is the most excitement that I have had in forever.” Jason looked over at Scott. Scott looked like he had been deep in thought. “Oh, my bad, I’m sorry if I … looked like you were thinking pretty deep there, and I interrupted. Sorry.” He turned his attention back to the road. Isaac looked up from his phone at Jason in the rearview mirror. “So, um… what else do you guys do as a pack? Any kind of group activities, or outings?”

Isaac leaned forward from the backseat of the car where he had been texting, “Sometimes we get our asses kicked by Alpha packs and Dark Druids, but honestly I am hoping for a break from the ass kickings and evil. I vote for a cookout or something a little less painful. Maybe a sleepover, with a pillow fight… maybe a tea party with scones?”

Jason looked over to Scott and gave him a look like, is he serious. Scott looked back at him with a blank face. “Yeah, I think I would agree,” Scott muttered. “Maybe not the pillow fight, or the tea party. You are new to this and I am sure you will get your share of excitement eventually, but I really just want to stop and take a breather.”

Jason laughed, “You guys are great.” Scott looked back at Isaac smiling and half laughing as well, Isaac’s mouth just turned up a little at the corners. Scott couldn’t be sure, but it looked like Isaac had blushed.

They pulled back into the gas station where Scott and Isaac had met Jason on Scott’s bike, Jason looked down at this watch, “I would offer to drive one of you back so you don’t both have to ride on the dirt bike together, but my Mom was expecting me earlier. I really have to go.” Scott shrugged, “It’s cool, you get used to being in everyone’s comfort zone after a while. I have learned to just go with it.” Scott drug his hand casually through the back of his hair and then reached across the car to grip Jason’s shoulder right where it meets the curve of his neck. He squeezed and playfully shook him. “I’ll hit you up later when we make plans to all hang out together.”

Jason shook his head but looked a little awkward at the touching. “Okay, cool. Later.”

Scott shut the door and turned to Isaac, “That was weird wasn’t it?” Isaac just stood there with his arms across his chest, “Ummm, yeah kinda. What is going on with that?” Scott grabbed his helmet off the bike and started to put it on, “I dunno, I just wanted him to smell more like me.” Isaac grabbed the other helmet, “You never do that kind of thing with me” then added, “umm, or Stiles or anyone else.”

Scott threw his leg over the bike and looked back over his shoulder, “Yeah, but you already smell like me, I mean, we live in the same house and…” his mind went back to the somewhat odd nap on the couch where he woke up spooning Isaac, “we are always on the same furniture.” Isaac climbed onto the bike behind him as Scott turned to put the key in the ignition, but Isaac seemed oddly hesitant about holding on to Scott’s waist. “I actually meant to ask you,” He paused for a second, “It’s kind of embarrassing really, but… since I became an Alpha, do I smell stronger?” He turned back around to look at Isaac, “I mean, Mom hasn’t said anything but my room doesn’t reek or anything, does it?

Isaac shrugged, “It doesn’t reek, I think you just smell things more clearly now.” It wasn’t a lie, Scott’s room didn’t reek, it smelled strongly of Scott, which smelled really, really good.

Scott turned back and turned the ignition. He reached back behind him and grabbed Isaac’s hand as he pulled down the visor on his helmet and muttered, “I don’t want you falling off.” As he pulled Isaac’s hand around his chest a scent was pretty obviously there. Scott definitely did smell things more clearly, but he wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do about them.

* * *

Stiles had sat there watching Alan slide the dead cell phone across the hospital bed-table toward him. The lift of his eyebrows was expectant of an answer, and Stiles opened his lips mouthing out words but not making any noise until, “... I, umm…. was.”

The knock at the door was like a death row pardon just before someone hit the switch.  Melissa’s head popped around the door’s edge and the elation Stiles had felt came crashing down. “I just need to check your vitals and I’ll be out of your hair.” Stiles shook his head up and down once. It was odd, as much as Stiles was upset about the whole situation, Melissa seemed to be talking to the blankets on the bed instead of meeting Stiles’ eyes. Alan was looking back into the corner where Daz had been earlier, Stiles scolding himself for not being more careful about where he let his eyes linger.

Daz moved closer to the bed, ‘your father told her about the secret he let slip.’ Stiles cleared his throat and thought back to Daz, ‘do you know if she is going to tell Scott?’ Melissa lifted his chin and had to look him in the eye as she checked how reactive his pupils dilated. For a second before the bright light blinded him, he could see how the anxiety was weighing on her.

Daz’s voice replies, ‘She told the Sheriff that it was something that they really needed to talk about’ Melissa was writing in Stiles’ chart and sat it on the nightstand, “Do you think I can take a look at your back?” ‘She said she wouldn’t tell Scott if your father was uncomfortable with it, but it was something she always regretted doing.’ Stiles leaned forward and Melissa pulled open the back of his gown. His back was turning from the dark purple color it was before to a green and yellow blotchy mess.

“The bruising is healing, but it will still be a couple days before you can move without pain. They are already weaning you off the morphine, but the pain pills should be enough.” Stiles reached out and took Melissa’s wrist, she looked down at him, eyes wide with shock, “I … I won’t say anything, to Scott.”  Melissa looked a little relieved, “but I hope you do.” the darkness in her eyes still showed that it was a weight she had been dreading. She shook her head and smiled weakly, “I appreciate that,” she moved to the foot of the bed and a slight shift in her demeanor made it feel like she was trying to be professional in a very personal setting, “The doctor is still baffled as for the reason behind the coma, but if your CAT scans and your MRI are clear, he is hopefully going to let you go late tomorrow or the next morning.”

She pulled the clipboard that held his chart back up to make a few more notes, then turned to head for the door. “Oh,” she turned back to Stiles, “Scott was wondering if you were feeling up to company? I told him I would check with you.” The guilt of keeping such a big secret was too much to deal with right now and Stiles shook his head no. “Not really.”

As the door closed Alan opened the bag he had brought with him. “Your father said he will drop of his old badge to my office, so the only thing I need from you is a couple drops of your blood.” He pulled out a cork stoppered vial with some orange powder in it, “I would have already taken care of this, but the blood must be willingly given.” Stiles held out his finger and the vet pricked it and collected the blood in the vial. Stiles could feel the discomfort like anger coming from Daz as the blood welled up and dripped into the glass.

Stiles watched Alan work and muttered, “What is the orange stuff for?” Alan looked up and smiled. “I told you Stiles, I will be happy to teach you, but I need to know that I can trust you.”

Stiles stuck his pricked finger into his mouth then pulled it out, “What do you know about summoned beings?” Alan stoppered the vial and slipped it back into the bag. ‘Do you know what can be done with a sample of blood willingly given?’ Daz nagged Stiles. Alan sat back in the chair getting comfortable like he would be there awhile. “I have never done any summoning myself, but the basis is simple enough. The caster uses a great force of magic to open a gateway into another dimension and pulls a being through into our world. The caster closes the gateway and the being is trapped inside a complex set of wards. The caster offers the being a contract providing a payment and required services. The summoned either accepts the terms or is returned to their dimension.” Alan looked around the room again like he was expecting to see something. “Now the complexities come into play as to how to assure the contract is honored, and what happens if the caster loses control of the summoned.”

Daz sounded like he was laughing inside Stiles’ head, it was a disturbing sound and Stiles thought to him, ‘what is so funny?’ Daz whispered, ‘Mother was such a tricky witch.’ Alan cleared his throat looking more and more like he was figuring out the puzzle, “I said, why do you ask about summoned ones Stiles?”

Stiles thought carefully about how much he wanted the good doctor to know. He needed someone to help him with all this magic and he didn’t know anyone else that could be his teacher. The only other person that might have been able to was, Marin, and she was missing. Stiles steadied himself and he could sense Daz about to argue with him, “When you came in earlier, I was obviously not talking on the phone… I was talking to a creature my Mother summoned to protect me.”

Alan’s lips drew tight and he looked slowly around the room, “Do you know it’s true name?” Stiles thought, ‘Daz.’ Alan asked again, “Stiles, do you know it’s true name?” He could feel how smug Daz was through his thoughts, ‘Only your Mother knew my true name, though she tried to teach it to you, you never could pronounce it.’ Stiles thought about his first name and laughed to himself at the irony. “I don’t know his true name.”

Alan looked a little more worried. “If you don’t know it’s true name then we have no control over it. The only control is the binding of the contract.” He swallowed and leaned forward toward the bed, “Do you know the details of the contract?” Stiles thought for a second. “All I know is that Daz is to protect my life. I don’t know what the payment was.” Daz started laughing again. “What are you laughing about?” Stiles blurted out loud, looking over his shoulder to look up at Daz next to the bed. Alan’s eyes went wide at Stiles’ outburst, his eyes followed Stiles’ to the area just over the bed. ‘Mother tricked me, she said she would provide me with a body of my own if I made sure that you never died. I agreed to the terms of her contract, she gave me a drop of willingly given blood, I gave her my true name. But the only body I was told I was allowed to possess was you, and only after you were dead.’

Stiles felt a chill and then repeated to Alan, “Daz was required to protect my life in exchange for the use of my body after my death.”

Alan looked past Stiles to the shadows forming like smoke next to the bed, “Claudia was alway good with getting what she wanted. Kind of a catch 22?” Stiles thought it was odd that Daz wasn’t more pissed about it, he actually seemed giddy. Alan watched as a copy of Stiles formed from the twisting darkness next to the bed. “I think that everything was going according to my Mom’s plan up until our self sacrifices and the ties to the Nemeton. I just realized that Daz has been out since then, I remember feeling him, but I couldn’t see him until after I woke up from the test.”

Alan looked at Daz, his empty black eyes stared back at the Druid. His mouth moved as he spoke out loud, but the voice sounded like each sentence came from a random corner of the room, “You have seen my kind before haven’t you Druid? Claudia hasn’t been the first to break the veil between our worlds, I can see the recognition in your eyes.” Alan’s face was more passive than Stiles thought was possible. “When Scott attacked Stiles, why didn’t you kill him?” Stiles jerked at the question like he had been punched. Daz tilted his head like a curious cat, “I protected Stiles’ chest from being torn open on the werewolf’s claws and kept his neck from breaking as he hit the tree, I protected his life, but Mother said I was never to harm any of Stiles’ family unless their was no other way.”

Alan looked back at Stiles. “Scott is your family, like pack?” Stiles pressed his lips together frowning, and something in Alan’s eye spoke of the realization. “Scott is Jonathan’s biological son.” Stiles didn’t answer yes or no, but he really didn’t have to.  

Stiles leaned into Alan’s direct line of vision with Daz, “So,” he scrunched his face up trying to look hopeful, “What is the verdict? Am I royally screwed or what?”  
Alan leaned back in the chair, “Let’s put it this way Stiles. Claudia ensured that you will never die by summoning a creature that most everyone in the magical community will fear and avoid. I would suggest drawing up a new contract that sends him back to his shadow realm and relieves him of his obligation to you.” The emotionless face Daz wore showed no sign of the dark anger waving into Stiles mind. Stiles swallowed, “Dr. D, I don’t think that he likes that idea.”

* * *

Jonathan didn’t have time to think about everything that was going on with Stiles and Scott and well, and Melissa, if he wanted to get anything accomplished today. He was just walking in the station and slapped a disk down on Officer Giles’ desk, “Security footage from the hospital. I want a sketch of the man that entered the quarantine room on this hall done and I want his face and the footage on the 6 o’clock news. He is a person of interest in the case of all the people in that room.” Giles hopped up from his desk and headed to the back, and Jonathan walked into his office pulling the door closed.

As soon as his ass hit the seat the door was opening again. Seth stepped into the office and pulled the door closed behind him. “The serial killer has to still be in the area, the Agents only saw him once but we lost him.” He looked like he was a little pissed to have so many resources and still have no results. “I have agents on roads all over town and plain clothes walking the streets, but so far nothing.” The Sheriff scrubs his face with the palm of his hand, “Thanks for keeping me in the loop, is there anything that I can do to help?” Seth pulls out the chair in front of his desk, “I feel like there is more to what is going on here in Beacon Hills, and I hate going into a situation blind. I know that if you had any info that you would tell me,” A wash of guilt hit Jonathan in the gut. He really didn’t know who to ask about telling Seth the whole truth, but he felt like, if Scott hadn’t told him, that it wasn’t his place to let the secret out. Thinking about secrets hit him with a whole other pang of guilt. “I just wish that I had the missing pieces of the puzzle. I feel like I would have better odds of..”

A knock at the door breaks off Seth’s sentence and turns both their attention to the window. Chris Argent opens the door and steps in to the office. “Sheriff, I needed to have a word with you.” He paused looking at Seth. “Alone.” Seth looks  over the desk to Jonathan, “If you hear anything just let me know and I will try my best to keep you in the loop.” He stands and eyes Chris, “hopefully you are keeping out of trouble Argent.” Jonathan isn’t sure that the shoulder check is intentional because the doorway is narrow, but Chris looks like he is pretty annoyed.

The door closes and Chris watches out the window until Seth is out of sight. “Anything I need to know about?” Chris eyes the Sheriff. Jonathan huffs, “No, not unless you can help me solve a string of mass killing from here to the Mexican border.”

The usual trained hunter doesn’t give anything away with his face, but sits down in the chair and leans across the desk. “Families with lots of ties to weapon sales. Lots of combat training,” He is trying to make it sound sarcastic that the Sheriff didn’t make the connection before, but it comes out more like annoyance at having to explain something to an officer, “families with body armor and crates full of possible drugs?”

Jonathan unlocked his bottom desk drawer and pulled the file that Seth had left him out. The more recent family had looked like the house was cleaned up after the killing, but not by the killer, but the family before had a cataloged list of various odd items. He skimmed through the list and noticed a couple things that stuck out; compound bows, silver bullets, poisonous plants, wolfsbane. “You are telling me that these are all hunter families?”

Chris shook his head like the Sheriff was unbelievable. “So what are we dealing with? Another Alpha pack? An Omega wolf?” Chris shook his head, “No, single werewolves would have never taken down any of these families, they are too well trained, and a pack would have had a hard time going up against a couple of the families, they cultivate their own wolfsbane and grow it all around their property.” He paused and Jonathan huffed, “Just spit it out already.” Chris looked grim, “Vampire.”

Jonathan sat back in his chair, “great, just great, how the hell am I supposed to tell Scott’s Dad that his case is a vampire??” Chris pulled the case file across the desk and started to look through the info. “You aren’t, I am already in the process of taking care of it. I will have the appropriate weapons later tonight, and I will hopefully have what the vampire wants tomorrow morning."

The sheriff stood up to walk across his office and grab a mug and began pouring it full of black coffee. He gestured an empty cup at Chris and muttered, “You want any?” Chris shook his head no. “So, that wasn’t what you were coming here for, what did you need to talk to me about?” Chris let a breath out his nose. “Scott. He isn’t in control of his shift and he is a danger to others. He came to me the other day to sort out his options and the best we can do is put him in an electrified cage. If he touches the cage it will reverse his shift.” he paused watching Jonathan sip the steaming coffee, “but we need a stable place for him to be, and all these abandoned places around town aren’t really the thing we are looking for.”

Jonathan sat his cup down on the desk and could see where this was going. “What did you have in mind?” Chris smiled, “We were hoping for a basement that we could bolt a cage to the floor and put in sound absorbing panels, but..” The Sheriff interrupted, “Melissa’s house doesn’t have a basement, only a crawlspace. And I am betting that you and Allison don’t have a basement either living in the condos.” Chris lifted his eyebrows, “technically we do, but it isn’t exactly the private place that we need to keep an Alpha in a cage.”

“So who suggested my basement? It was Scott wasn’t it? He and Stiles used to play down there before I stored all of Claudia’s things down there. Ever since Stiles hasn’t been down there at all.” Jonathan looked haunted for a moment, “I have been meaning to clean out all that stuff for awhile now. I know it would be put to better use if I donated most of it to the shelter, it is just…” He looked up at Chris whose face carried the same weight as his, “I’m sure you know what I am talking about.”

Chris stood from the chair, “So, you are okay with it?” The Sheriff shook his head yes. “Good, I just need 2 or 3 days to get the cage assembled, the wiring ran, and soundproofing put in place. That should give you plenty of time to sort through everything right?” Jonathan nodded again.

Chris started toward the door and Jonathan spoke, “What should I do about the vampire?” Chris stopped to look over his shoulder, “I told you, I have it handled.”

* * *

Melissa pulled into the driveway and cuts the engine. Her head flops forward to rest against the steering wheel and she puffs out an exasperated breath. Now she gets to go home and try not to let Scott sense that anything is wrong. She grabs her bag and figures it is best just to not think about it and then it won’t be so much of a problem. She remembers the girls talking about what a good worker Isaac was and how several of them had things for him to do around their houses, maybe she could start with that and try really hard to keep her mind off of other things.

Walking in the door Scott and Isaac were sitting on the sofa talking, “Hey Mom!” “Hey Melissa.” they both said. “Scott, Stiles said he really isn’t feeling up to having any visitors, he was talking with Alan when I left and it looked pretty stressful for him. I think John forgot to give Stiles the charger he was carrying around with him, so you are just going to have to go without your Stiles fix.”

Scott looked a little embarrassed, “Honestly, I have had my hands kind of full. I meant to stop by and see him today.” He smiled his ‘you probably don’t want to hear about this’ smile, “The new member of my pack is a girl named Sam.”

Melissa plopped down into the recliner and sighed looking at Scott waiting for more of the story. “I think that you are on to something though, she had leukemia before and it had came back. She wasn’t even going to tell her Mother about it because she didn’t want to suffer through treatment again.” Scott shifted around in his seat, “I don’t know much about her though, not much about Jason either, so we were thinking,” he draped his arm over Isaac pulling him in close, “We could have a cookout or something here at the house to kind of introduce everyone in the pack?” Melissa wasn’t sure if it was a question or not, it did have the lift in pitch right there at the very end, but the plans seemed to be already settled on.

She got up and grabbed her bag off the floor. “As long as you aren’t planning a lot of work for me, AND... your father,” she looked away for a second and stumbled across the word, “is still expecting a family dinner night that you already agreed to. You take care of that and I am fine with it.”

Scott got up from the couch and slouched like the typical teenager, walking toward the kitchen, “Fine. Can we just get it over with as soon as possible?” Melissa followed him into the kitchen and started pulling out stuff to make dinner. “Can you call and see if he can do it tomorrow night?” Melissa smiled relieved to get it out of the way herself, “I will, I am calling right now.” She pulled out her phone and started looking for the number as she stepped back into the other room.

“And you young man,” Isaac looked up from the couch with a guilty look on his face, “umm, wow, I was just going to say, all the nurses at work are making a list of things for the attractive young man to do. So as long as you really WANT to, you should have plenty of things to do this summer.” Isaac smiled, “Yeah, I want to help out as much as I can, I know it can’t be cheap feeding two werewolves.” Melissa laughed, “Well, with Stiles and Scott, I have had a lot of practice shopping on a budget. So don’t worry too much about it.”

She hit the screen to call Seth and walked back in the kitchen. It rang and rang and rang, she pulled out a pan from under the counter as the call went to voicemail. “Hey, it’s me, Scott wanted to do dinner tomorrow night, let me know if that is good for you.” Isaac stepped into the kitchen, “You need any help?” She pulled out some chicken from the fridge and sat it in the sink, “No, you cook too much when I am working, I can handle this.” The phone chimed with an incoming message.  

Seth to Melissa: Can’t talk now, dinner tomorrow is fine. 7?

Melissa looked at the phone for a second. She was still getting the hang of texting. She really missed the days when people had actual conversations about things when they were important. Isaac turned looking from the doorway back into the living room.

Melissa to Seth: 7 is fine. Bring red wine.

Seth to Melissa: See you then.

Melissa was listening to Scott talking on his phone to, she assumed Jason, but was curious about Isaac. He seemed to be hiding in the kitchen watching Scott. She sat the pan down on the stove and stepped up behind him leaning over just enough so that he could notice her. He jumped and Melissa curled up one side of her lips, “What is going on?”

She paused and lifted her eyebrows at him, “You aren’t usually easy to sneak up on.” “Nothing, what do you mean?” Isaac looked back into the living room innocently. Melissa smiled, “You know this isn’t my first rodeo,” She walked back to the sink opening the chicken up and putting it on the cutting board, “I have seen that look on Scott’s face before.”

She pulled the packaging out of the sink and dropped it in the trash. “Just.. please… pulease, be careful how you handle things.The last thing I need right now is an awkward teenage werewolf romance falling apart in my house.” Isaac looked like he was about to argue but couldn’t find the words.

Melissa walked over to the doorway where Isaac was standing and looked into the living room watching Scott walking around talking on the phone about whether they should get burgers or do chicken, and he thought that Sam had said something about being a vegan. “I don’t know about Scott though,” she whispered near Isaac’s ear, “I have never heard him talk about liking any other boys.” “Yeah, I haven’t really liked any guys before either.” Isaac looked over at her like he was startled that he just said that.

Melissa walked over to the fridge and pulled out a bag of broccoli, “On second thought, why don’t you cut this up for me, you seem like you need a distraction.” Melissa thought for a second about the secret that Stiles was keeping, she was glad to have a distraction as well.

* * *

Lydia pulled into the clinic parking lot a little faster than she intended and had to slam on her brakes to keep from running over the parking curb. She reached up quickly to cut the engine and then looked up to the sign in the window. “CLOSED” Really?? The one time she was the one needing to talk to the vet he was out for the rest of the day.

She threw herself back in the seat and huffed, and then she had to reach up and gracefully  move her hair out of her face where it went everywhere in her flailing. She really just wanted to scream, not like she had found a dead body scream, just one of those tension releasing primal screams that was supposed to make you feel better, but it never worked.

She pulled her phone out and looked through the messages she had gotten while driving. Aiden was checking in on her and if she had plans for tonight. He was so sweet, but Lydia had so much on her mind she didn’t reply. Allison was asking about a coffee date and her Mom messaged her about her plans for dinner.

She sat the phone in her lap and thought back to the informative conversation she had with Alex. It was absolutely ridiculous to think that she wished she could call him up and have a chat. I mean, a vampire, just having a little talk like it was the most normal thing ever. She looked up at the sky, it wasn’t dark out, but the sun was down past most of the trees and she bet he was probably already out roaming the streets. He was at her house when the sun was rising, so he must be able to stand sunlight, just not direct sunlight.

She rolled her eyes and reached for her purse. She didn’t even understand what the hell she was and she was trying to figure out how a vampire walked in the sun. She remembered the translations she had done in the bestiary. It was informative, but honestly she wanted nothing more than to get blood samples and check them under a microscope.

She stopped digging for her lip gloss. Why didn’t she think of that before? She could examine herself like she was a science project. She had a microscope and slides at home in storage and she was already brilliant.

She pulled out her phone and pulled up Aiden’s text.

Lydia to Aiden: Can I take a raincheck on plans, I kind of want to stay in tonight.

Lydia to Allison: I will let you know something about coffee tomorrow morning, I don’t know if I will have my hands full.

Lydia to Mom: Be home in 10. Want to order pizza?

Pizza was Lydia’s go to food when she wanted to spend some time with her Mom, but not too much time. They had developed an understanding over the years and Lydia’s Mom knew that she would sit down and watch TV long enough to eat two slices and then go about whatever plans she had made.

It was a plan she could work with. She pulled the keys out and stuck them in ignition, she paused for a second when she got an odd feeling that sent a chill along her spine. If felt similar to the sense she got before driving off to find a dead body, but then strangely different. She shook it off and pulled the car into the street and was on the way home.

In the alley beside the clinic, the shadows of the buildings almost completely concealed a tall figure with glowing green eyes. “Well this makes things a little more interesting.”

* * *

As she walks in the front door she is hit with a wonderful aroma of lasagna and her thoughts go back to the fact that it was what her Mom would always make for her when she was feeling down. “I hope you are hungry,” Chris starts to say walking into the living room smiling widely. Allison stands there sheepishly with her empty fast food bag and drink cup.

“I’m sorry, I thought that you would be busy tonight and I stopped on the way home,” she apologized watching the smile falter on her father’s face. “Its fine,” he said with a wave of his hand, “one good thing about lasagna, it will reheat really well.” He stepped out and hugged her lightly. “I was going to have a quick bite with you, but if you already ate, I think I will just toss this in the fridge for another day. I have to head out and pick up some,” he looked around the apartment suspiciously, “things from a good friend.”

Allison could read between the lines. Her Dad was worried that Alex could be just outside listening in on their plans. They had no weapons that were especially made to fight against vampires. Unlike all the TV shows and movies depicted, a cross and sharpened flag pole, or various other wooden object, weren’t really going to do that much damage. So, he was going shopping for some vampire killing paraphernalia.

“Okay,” she sighed as she walked toward the kitchen dropping her bag into the garbage can, “when will you be getting back?” Chris grabbed the pan of lasagna out of the oven where it was keeping warm and sat it on the stove top to cool before putting it in the fridge. “Well, the drive is a couple hours, I will probably stop for the night, but I’ll be back in the morning pretty early.”

Allison ran her fingers restlessly through her long dark waves, “Just, please be careful. I wish there was someone you could take with you.” Chris furrowed his eyebrows and shook his head back and forth, “These guys are not the type to do business with a person traveling with an entourage. They barely trust me enough to meet up, they are older hunters that have seen a lot more over the years than you and I put together.”

Allison looked like she was carrying the weight of a thousand worries on her shoulders. Chris hated that her life had to be this difficult and sometimes he wished that he could take her and run away from it all, but they had a responsibility to the people of Beacon Hills and a duty to honor their family name.

He reached out and took her face in both hands, tilting it up to look in her eyes, “Don’t worry sweetheart, everything is going to be fine.” He leaned forward kissing her softly on the forehead. “If you don’t want to be here alone, you should call Lydia and see if she wants to have someone over. Hang out with her, do what girls are supposed to do. I have got this handled.” He dropped his hands down to her shoulders and squeezed them gently almost wanting to shake her worries free, “When I need to you worry, or need you to help, I will tell you. Til then, just try to take a break. I’ve been watching you train. You are pushing too hard, and you are going to end up pushing past your breaking point.”

He pulled her into a tight hug and she relaxed into the warmth of it. Chris held his daughter there in his arms for awhile thinking about how quickly she had been growing up. When he backed away she was quite a bit more relaxed already. He grabbed a duffle bag off the dining room table and took his keys off the hook next to the door. “Just relax, everything is going to be fine. Call me if you need anything. Love you.”

Allison smiled, “Love you too.” And with that she was standing in the hallway alone. Hmmm, she thought, I need to relax, and the best way to relax is a nice long soak in a hot bath.

A couple minutes later, she was standing next to the huge tub, filled with steaming hot water, surrounded by glowing candles, the sound of soft piano music was drifting in from the other room. She poured some salts into the tub and stirred them around testing the temperature of the water. It was hot, but not too much for her to stand.

The towel fell to the floor and she slipped her foot into the mist, feeling the aches already starting to fade away at just the thought of the relaxing heat. She slowly sank into the water, it smelled like rose petals and the scent from the candles wafted through the room as well. The candles were different scents but blended together nicely, honeysuckle, lilac, cotton, and sage.

As the water began to warm her sore muscles she leaned back into the tub dipping her hair into the surface and brushing it back off her face to wrap into a wet bun. She pulled a folded towel from the counter to rest her head on. And took in a slow, deep breath. It had been far too long since she had just pampered herself like this.

Just as she was getting really mellowed out she noticed something other than the piano music. It was like a cold draft in the warm steamy bathroom. It was a laugh. Not a friendly warm laugh of a happy person, it was a cruel, cold laugh of a psychopathic monster.

Allison’s eyes popped open as she looked around the room frightened. No, she thought, NO, I am not going to keep being afraid of a stupid nightmare. She forcefully closed her eyes and ground her teeth, taking a deep breath. Pretty sure you can’t force relaxation like this, but she was NOT giving into her fears again.

“Are you trying to tenderize your flesh for the wolves to devour?” It was a whisper, but even soaking in the hot water, a cold chill ran through her skin. She refused to open her eyes and wished that she had brought  the radio in the bathroom so she could turn the volume up.

She continued breathing deep and slow thinking that she could will herself to just relax. “Are you ignoring me Allison?” An actual cold breeze cut through the air in the bathroom. “I don’t think that you understand, just. how. serious. THIS. IS!”

Vise like fingers dug into the meat of her shoulder on either side of her neck and her next breath was bubbling out as she was forced beneath the steaming surface. Allison opened her eyes under the water but her hair had fallen down from it’s bun and was swirling through the water. She reached back with her hands trying to pry the fingers off her shoulder but they were too strong and fierce. Her feet couldn’t find any surface to press against.

As she thrashed against the water, her candles were all extinguished from the splashing, but it was almost as if the fire was transferred into her lungs. She tried to reach for her Aunt’s face, to claw her eyes out or pull her head down within range to knee, but she couldn’t reach, she opted to try digging her fingers into her wrists. The  burning for air in her lungs was so painful, and then suddenly she felt herself pulled up from the water and thrown into the floor.

She was face down in the pitch black bathroom, coughing violently and gasping for air. She looked around the room, searching for any sign of her Aunt. It was empty, there was no one there but her. Just a nightmare? How the hell does a nightmare hold you under water... throw you out of the tub? She thought about it for a second. Maybe she had been holding herself under water and jumped out the tub herself, she was so confused.

She really wished that she could call Scott to come over and sleep next to her, but that would be too much to ask of him, they had just gotten on solid footing as friend, and Isaac was no better. She stopped for a second to think about what might happen to anyone and her Aunt was to make her hurt them. She was well aware that she was trained to kill both Scott and Isaac. It wasn’t a risk she could take.

Just a few more days and Alan would have the protective talisman made and Allison’s mind would be her own again.

She flipped on the bathroom light and grabbed a towel to wipe across the foggy bathroom mirror. She stared into the mirror of a few seconds before realizing she was holding her breath. Four dark bruises were formed on either side of her neck next to her shoulder.

Not a dream, most definitely not a dream.  

* * *

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	6. Twisting Tendrills

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ethan gets a shocking surprise, Lydia makes an uneasy alliance, Stiles tests the waters of his new-found power, Scott gets in touch with nature, Alan and Hannah take a trip down memory lane, the Sheriff finds yet another dead end, and Danny makes a new friend.
> 
> Winter is coming.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> On a serious note, this chapter does contain self harm, as the original warnings state, this fan-fiction is probably full of all the triggers. Please don't read if this is likely to bring up painful memories.

* * *

Aiden’s back is covered in slowly healing bruises as he sits in the floor next to Ethan breathing heavily, “Yeah,” he stops to swallow, “I think you were right.” He winces and draws his face into a scowl, “Us trying to fuse into one werewolf is completely pointless now.” Ethan looks over at him and wipes sweat off his forehead and shaking his right hand trying to get the blood to flow, “Yeah, nice to see you agree now that YOU are the one getting punched in the back repeatedly!” Aiden rolls his shoulders back and hears a crackling noise, “Pretty sure you broke a rib. So I don’t want to hear you complaining.”

Ethan stands up and walks over to the duffle bag on the sofa. “Okay, I know you SAID that Deucalion must not have wanted this bag of cash if he left it here, but he left everything here, everything… and I feel like he is going to be seriously pissed when he comes back and this cash is all gone.” He picks it up and tosses it on the coffee table taking a seat in its place, “And we both know what he is like when he is seriously pissed off.”  

Aiden rolls onto his back on the floor wincing as the rib pops back into place, “First, There is over two hundred thousand there, no way are we going to spend all that any time soon, and second, we haven’t heard anything from him in over a month. If he comes back, what’s he going to say? We had to pay the lease on the condo, his stuff is stored here after all, and we had to feed ourselves. He didn’t leave us any instructions. Besides, I’m not the one taking my girlfriend out to expensive dinners!” Ethan rolls his eyes, “Boyfriend! and it was once, I wanted to do something nice for him.”

Aiden stood up and stretched, he flashed his glowing eyes at his brother, “Well, my blue eyes say I don’t owe Deucalion a damn thing. IF he ever does comes back, all we can hope is that we are part of Scott’s pack and at least under the protection of the pack, or long gone by then. Or maybe we will luck out and when he comes back, he will be an Omega too.” He reached down and snatched his shirt angrily off the floor, “ I am going to go take a shower. We need to start figuring out how to make ourselves invaluable to McCall’s pack or start making plans to go looking for another Alpha.”

Ethan thought he would give his twin time to shower and chill out so he grabbed his keys and stepped out the door to go to for a walk. He was headed down the hallway, thinking of things that he thought might indebt Scott to him and his brother, but couldn’t really think of anything. If they could figure out a way that Scott might need them, something that no other wolf could provide for him, but he didn’t know what that would be, Scott seemed to be taking to being an Alpha really well.

The elevator door opened before he even hit the call button and a pretty teenage girl with warm copper skin smiled at him, “Going down?” she said. Ethan shook his head and stepped into the elevator. He noticed that every button on the panel had been pressed and was counting down from the top floor. “My stupid brother pressed every button so I would have to stop at every floor. He wants to beat me to the lobby using the stairs.” She laughed one of those teenage laughs like it is lame but sort of funny. Ethan looked up at her, she was pretty, had wavy dark hair and blue eyes, no they were contacts. Her outfit was cute, a kind of urban soldier thing with black cargos and a tight tee with a fitted hoodie, the silver necklace around her neck caught his eye, it was a crow in flight, inside a triangle. She noticed him looking at her and he looked away, then the faint scent of wolfsbane caught his attention and he sniffed the air instinctively. “Finally,” she said almost exasperated, “been riding this elevator all day!” His claws were out in a second, but before he could turn to look a stun baton hit the back of his neck and everything went dark.

* * *

Eager to wake up and start taking blood samples and start experimenting, Lydia had set an alarm for 5 am. The alarm goes off and as she rolls over to turn off the incessant beeping, she is startled to find Alex standing over her bed watching her sleep.

“Good Morning Miss Martin, so glad to see that I didn’t have to wake you. You see, I have hit a bit of an snag in finding that worthless waste of breath, Gerard, and freeing him of his mortal coil.” He smiled what might have been a serious attempt at a pleasant smile, but the fangs and piercing eyes made it difficult to pull off.

Lydia slapped the alarm clock and sat up, an annoyed look on her face. I guess plans to start a scientific analysis of her genetic makeup would have to wait.

“And why, pray tell are you here in my bedroom? Gerard and I definitely aren’t sleeping together and I don’t have any idea where Gerard would be hiding. So this seems like a complete waste of your time to me. Even Allison and Chris don’t know where he is.” Alex shook with a soft laugh at her quip, “You truly do have nerves of steel.” He moved to the edge of the bed and eyed her curiously, “I have already pursued the Argent family and you are right, they have no idea where he is, but I believe that you and I may be able to come to an arrangement.”

He paused moving to sit down at her desk and looking over her notes from the previous night. Possible tests that might give her clues about genetic markers, printouts from websites of receipts for shipping on DNA testing, and notes scribbled on the margins were spread out across the desktop.

“I see that you are extremely curious about what you are and how you might be able to find out more about your person. I can be of great assistance in this endeavor, and you,” He looked back to where Lydia was sitting in the nest of covers, “would be of great help in my problem finding Gerard.”

Lydia sat processing this offer. “What do I have to do?” Alex smiled. “Then we have a deal? I believe that you are a trustworthy person. If you give me your word, I will help you.”

Lydia wasn’t sure that she wanted to get involved with the vampire, but he seemed to have all the answers that she wanted. “I believe that we have an agreement.” She smiled one of her award winning smiles.

Alex stood, “Well, I don’t believe in wasting time, would you like to take a moment to shower or dress.” Lydia shook her head, “I don’t want to waste any time either.” Alex smiled, “Very well, I have already surmised that Gerard is not where the Argent family thinks he is, and I have found no trace of him anywhere in town. He is being concealed from me by witchcraft. Vampires have a great many skills, but magic is not our greatest asset.” He moved to the edge of the chair and leaned into his knees propping his elbows there. “The Fae however have powerful magics.” He stood up and stepped over to the bed. “The only thing in our way is your cloak.”

Lydia looked at her nightgown, then back at Alex, “Look, I don’t mind getting naked, but I don’t know what good that is going to do.” Alex noted the lie and wondered how it was possible, he moved to the door, “Not your nightgown, your cloak…. the humans might call it a glamour or camouflage, it is a complex magic done by the Fae to protect themselves. Most Fae have a weak cloak that barely conceals their true form and helps protect them from iron.”

He leaned against the door frame, “Your cloak is one of the most impressive I have ever experienced. It conceals you almost completely, only someone extremely experienced with Fae would be able to figure you out. You have been here for fifteen plus years and I bet you’ve never experienced iron sickness, I would be willing to bet that you have never gotten sick at all unless your mother or someone else convinced you that you were. You see, the cloak acts as a immune system to protect you and visually reacts to your will.”

Lydia moved to the edge of the bed, “I had a birthmark appear after looking through my baby pictures. Is that what you mean?” Alex smiled, “You were looking at the baby taken from the woman you think of as your mother. Your cloak was trying to mimic something that you had overlooked before.” He moved to kneel next to her knees and reached up to softly touch her wrist where she was caressing the skin. Alex looked, “The mark is gone?”

Lydia looked into his eyes. they were a multifaceted like shards of glass glowing from within, he was a predator, a bloodthirsty killer only inches away from her wrist and could rip into her flesh at any second. A hum of magic sparked at his fingertips touching her wrist. She felt its chaos, unrestrained and wild.

Alex pulled his fingers away and Lydia spoke, “I kept repeating over and over that it wasn’t real, it didn’t exist. I knew it had never been there before and I had pictures on my cell phone that changed to match the new birthmark. After a while of repeating myself, I watched as it disappeared.”

Alex’s eyes widened, “Your cloak edited photographs you had stored in your phone?” Lydia shook her head. “Well, we may have more difficulty getting your cloak off than I thought.” He moved back to the chair and sat slowly, “Only you or the original Fae who formed your cloak will be able to remove it, and unfortunately your cloak is not only concealing your true form, but counteracting most of your magics as well.”

Lydia got up from the bed and pursed her lips, “Well, it sounds like we have a lot of work to do, I think I will freshen up and grab some coffee before we get to it. And you will need to get out of here before too late in the day, so I will try to hurry.” Alex seemed to straighten his drooping posture at her enthusiasm. It seemed that he appeared to think that Lydia wouldn’t be up to the challenge. She tilted her head at him almost accusingly, “You will learn that I don’t scare easily, and when I want something,” her face hardened in seriousness, “nothing! gets in my way.”

She tossed her copper curls over her shoulder and stepped into the bathroom. Alex was looking forward to watching this unfold. Lydia was definitely an original, he had never met anyone quite like her in his five hundred and some odd years.

* * *

The moment he woke up he was freezing, in pitch black and felt like the universe was closing in on him. Everything hurt and the black in front of his face felt like it was seriously about so suffocate him. So, Peter did what any hot blooded werewolf would do. He forced out his claws and started tearing at the darkness confining him.

His surroundings tore away easily but his claws tore into metal, and he paused at the sound, feeling of air moving around him and the sound of a latch being pulled. A bright square light appeared at his feet and he was suddenly lurching forward toward the light.   
“HEY!! Calm down in there, I don’t need you tearing up my damn freezer.” It was a gruff voice that sounded like too many years smoking cigarettes, the wafting odor of the man confirmed this suspicion. Peter sat up the moment he was out of the box. He was surprised to find that he was in the morgue of  a hospital. The gruff voice belonged to a balding, overweight, greasy looking man with olive skin and thick glasses, “I’ll let you deal with him Bets, try to make sure he doesn’t tear anything ELSE up while I step out and grab a smoke. Fucking werewolves stress me the fuck out!”

Peter looked over toward where the growling man was talking. She looked like sex on a stick, painted on blue jeans and a tight green blouse with a plunging neckline that left little to the imagination, blackest of black hair, thick eyelashes ringing the brightest blue eyes he had ever seen and she smelled like fresh honeysuckle. “Thank God Ernie was able to convince the other pack that you were dead. Self righteous fucking wolves think they are so special just because they can hear a lie, but Ernie’s pacemaker is pretty much a big fuck you to every last one of you wolves.” Peter wasn’t sure what was going on but didn’t want to make a rash decision about what was going on. He wasn’t really in fighting shape at the moment, and it seemed like, at least for the moment that they had saved his ass. “I thought they were never going to leave. Now,” her boots clicked against the tile floor as she sauntered over to the tray he was laying on, glanced down at the tattered remains of the body bag that was barely covering his nudity, “you want to tell me what you are doing so far from home little doggy?”

Peter could smell the waves of arousal pouring off her as he watched her eyes rake over his mostly healed muscular form. She smiled like she knew what he was experiencing and reached out to tap her finger on the tip of his nose, “I know all the wolves in the local pack. And you,” she leaned in close enough for Peter to watch her pupils dilate, “I have never seen before.” The way she leaned forward her cleavage pressed against the buttons of her blouse threatening to burst free from the restraints.

Peter swallowed, suddenly aware of how completely naked he was under what was left of the body bag wrappings, “Where, um, are my clothes?” He blinked several times, “And who are you?”

“Betsy,” she pulled back and tossed her hair back over her shoulder to walk across the room to the exam table. She pulled a pair of jeans and a tee shirt out of a duffle bag. “Betsy Johnston. Your clothes were trashed, got these at the Goodwill, look like they are about your size.” She tossed the jeans at him and turned to face the other direction.

“You might want to do a little research about any more packs you plan on strolling right up in and chatting up the Alpha. The local pack has been experiencing an internal power struggle,” Peter swung his legs over the side of the table dropping to the floor and pushed the body bag out of the way to step into the jeans. “Someone from the pack obviously thought that you were coming to offer support to the Alpha, perhaps bring your pack to shift the balance of power.” She peeked over her shoulder watching Peter pull the too tight t shirt over his defined torso. “We found your rental off the road, you were a mess and would have been done for if the car had caught fire.”

Peter looked at his reflection in the stainless steel of the freezer doors. “Why did you get involved? It isn’t like a hunter family to save a wolf.” He turned to look at her, she was unsurprised that he knew she was a hunter, “Aren’t you supposed to be putting wolfsbane bullets in me?”

Betsy smiled, “We don’t kill wolves unless human deaths are involved,” she pulled herself up to sit on the exam table, “We thought that maybe you might have been a human, thought they had given us a reason to get involved, but after we found you, well, we aren’t monsters, and you needed help.”

Peter looked at her watching for any tells, thinking what ulterior motives might have lead them to bring him here. “So, what now?” he said flatly, expecting that they would expect him to give them inside information on the local pack or some other form of twisted payment.  
Betsy hopped down off the table brushing her hands down the front of her pants, “Now... you get the hell out of town before the boys come back and start asking questions. Rest of the stuff we found on you is in the bag, but we tossed your clothes. Had to cut most of them off you to pull the debris out of your wounds. I can give you a ride to the Enterprise to get you a new car, not sure how you are going to explain the other car wreck.”

Peter smiled. “I got it from a different rental company. I will just report it stolen.”

Betsy pulled the door open smiling back at him, “I figured something along those lines.”

* * *

It had been three hours so far, and with several attempts and a bit of encouragement and pointers from Alex, Lydia was able to exert her will over her cloak and her eyes changed from the usual bright green with a golden ring in the center to a bright blue.

She stared at herself in the mirror amazed at the change, but tried not to question it in her mind. Her eyes were blue, it wasn’t new or odd, it just was. Alex watched her with a slight smile playing at the corners of his mouth. “I am glad that we are making some progress, but it seems that Miss Argent is coming to see you. She is walking up the drive as we speak.” He frowned moving to the doorway, “Keep practicing, try to remove any old scars, they aren’t really there anyway, so they should be extremely easy for you to make disappear. Try to change your hair color, moles, the luster of your nails, anything you can think of. Remember,” He paused looking moving to lift her chin with his fingertips, “Beneath this facade you look nothing like this. You can appear any way you choose.”

The doorbell rang and Lydia moved to the stairs to go answer the door. She turned around to ask Alex how to get in touch with him, but he was already gone. “Must have gone out the back door.” Lydia muttered.

She bounced down the stairs surprisingly excited about the new developments in her life. She was going to figure this out and as odd as it was having a vampire help her, and the fact that the vampire wanted her help finding and killing Allison’s grandfather, she stopped feeling quite so excited and grabbed the doorknob to pull the door open.   
“I have been texting you all morning! I figured I would stop by just incase your phone was dead, or ….you were.” She eyed Lydia with a face that begged an explanation.

“Left it on the charger?” Lydia smiled shrugging her shoulders. Allison gave her a snarl, “My Dad stopped by this morning after getting his new weapons cache only long enough to leave a note that he was going to check the cabin-” Lydia’s hand went up instinctively and Allison paused, “What?” Lydia reached up pretending to pull something out of Allison’s hair. “Anyway,” Allison shot her a look that said, you must be going mental, “I am seriously tired of stressing about all this and I just need to relax, I really want to go get my nails done, they are a complete mess lately.” She put her hand out to show Lydia her broken and scuffed short nails.

Lydia grabbed her by the arm and pulled her in the front door to swing it closed behind her, “Who are you and what have you done with Allison.” Allison shoved her playfully, “what, I just want to have a spa day and maybe get a pedicure or a facial.”

Lydia looks like she just got a puppy on Christmas, “Okay, perfect, I will call and see if they can fit us in a little later today, but we should really stop by the hospital and see Stiles. His cell was dead last time I was there and I wanted to drop off a spare charger for him.”

Allison stopped and grabbed Lydia by the shoulders to look at Lydia closely, “Your eyes are green, did you get new contacts?” Lydia turned away from Allison, but she knew she had already been caught. “Umm, I, well, I kinda need to talk to you about something, and” she started walking toward the kitchen, “I need it to stay between the two of us for right now.”

Allison followed her to the kitchen and kept waiting for Lydia to turn back around and explain. “You are worrying me, the whole point of today was to relax me, now just tell me what is going on.” She reached out to put her hand on Lydia’s shoulder and pull back on her gently.

When Lydia turned back around her eyes had shifted back to their normal green, “You know me, you have known me for months now, and,” Allison stared at Lydia’s eyes and was completely flabbergasted how they were changing colors. “You have no idea how confusing this is for me, but you can’t tell your Dad about this.”

Allison looked like she was taking it pretty well so far, and Lydia just went for broke and let it go. “You remember when your Dad totally went off on me the other day when I mentioned the Fendinn?” She paused watching Allison nod subtly. “They are better known as Fae. I think I am one.”

Alex listened from the shade of the back yard, the sun hadn’t even rose far enough for him to be worried, but it was more comfortable here. He was curious about where Chris would have gone to so early in the morning after picking up his vampire hunting gear. It was so sad they way that the humans ran around thinking that they could hide from him, that they could keep secrets and make plans. He had grown bored of them over the centuries.

If Alex couldn’t find Gerard with his superior abilities, then wherever Chris was going was completely pointless, he wouldn’t find him. It was going to take someone with powerful magic to lift the spell obscuring Gerard’s location. It was only a matter of time before he could finish what he started when he awoke from his 10 year slumber.

His entire estate was littered with ash and small piles of clothing and jewelry. It had not taken him long to find out what had happened. He fed on animals to build his strength and then started to find those responsible for wiping out his entire family. Only one left on the list and he could be done with it.

Allison pulled at the collar of her high collared shirt nervously as she watched Lydia’s eyes shift back to blue, “So far that is as far as I have gotten on changing my glamour, but it was making changes to its self the other day and that is how I figured it out.”

Lydia paused watching Allison’s fingers check the top button of her shirt again. “Are you totally freaked out? Is this too much, I knew I shouldn’t have said anything, but you saw my eye color change and… well, how do you explain something like that? It is just...” Allison interrupted, “No,” tilting her head back to look at the ceiling and huffing out a tired breath, “Scott, Stiles, and I have all been having issues related to the sacrifice we made to find the Nemeton.”

She walked over to the kitchen table sitting down and laying her forehead on the surface of the cool wood, “I keep having these horrible visions of my Aunt Kate, at least, I thought they were just visions until I ended up with bruises in the shape of her fingertips in my shoulders last night.”

Lydia moved to touch her shoulder and Allison pulled back, “I don’t really want to show them off, if that is okay.” Lydia sat in the chair next to her, “Sometimes when the body experiences severe trauma, you have a physical response to a mental event. If the dream is super realistic to you, your body may have reacted by rushing blood to the areas it believed to be damaged causing the capillaries to bust.”

Allison stood up and shook her head like she was trying to shake away a bad memory, “It doesn’t matter anyway, Dr. Deaton is preparing us all a talisman to ward off any outside magical influence. He said it will protect us from the person that is supposedly testing us, and should also help sever any attachment to the Nemeton, but I haven’t even had time to think about that damn stump lately.”

She reached down grabbing Lydia’s hand and pulled her to her feet. “Come on, I need an iced coffee before we go to the hospital, and I am so done talking about all this supernatural stuff, so lets talk about something else.” Allison side eyed Lydia as they walked toward the door, “I know that you aren’t exactly a virgin, but..” she paused suddenly feeling awkward, “Have you ever considered having a threesome before?”

* * *

****  


Scott had been having a pretty good dream and was actually not even hoping to wake up so soon, but it felt like his dream was carrying over into real life. His skin felt warm all over like he was laying on the beach completely naked, the air seemed to caress his body gently pressing against him and moving his hair about. The birds were chirping so loudly it was almost like he was outside. He went to turn over and readjust his stiff pillow when he heard the leaves crunch under his side and his eyes popped open.

The birds were chirping loudly because he WAS outside. He looked down and he was completely naked as well. “Shit!” he swore as quietly as possible.

He looked around and it looked like he was next to a wooden fence behind some thick bushes. If he stood up he would be taller than the bushes so he tried to squat and look over the bushes. How the hell did he get here?? He tried to calm down taking several deep breaths and then pushed his senses to try to figure out where he was.

Almost immediately he could smell Jason’s scent, but he was alone, so he didn’t know where Jason would have gone. He felt an odd sense that he was supposed to be doing something. It nagged at the back of his mind.

He could smell his own scent pretty strong in the area, so he must have been here most of the night. He tried to peek through the wooden boards of the fence and saw a small jack russell cowering in the other corner of the lot. He noticed that the person on the other side of the fence had actually hung laundry out to dry and was considering scaling the fence and making a go for it, but he didn’t have time to figure that out because he could hear footsteps headed directly toward him. He tried to cover himself up as much as he could while squatting behind a bush.

“Scott?” a voice calls in a loud whisper from the other side of the bushes. It sounded like Jason, but Scott checked the air for his scent and was confirmed. “Dude, why am I naked?”

Jason laughed, “I keep telling you that I don’t swing that way, but you won’t take no for an answer apparently.” A pair of basketball shorts and a tee shirt come flying over the bush and Jason stepped around the corner of the bush startling Scott. “Though maybe I should reconsider that, huh big guy?” He winked playfully at Scott who in turn blushed ridiculously. “No, seriously, you showed up here last night, like in full on wolf, it was crazy. Red eyes, covered in fur, you were something else. It was a sight, really wish I had a good camera.”

Scott pulled on the shorts as quickly as he could pulling a trapped leaf out of the crack of his ass. He stood up looking over the bush that came up to his chest, as he pulled on the t shirt. “Was I all vicious and scary, did I attack anyone? What happened?” Jason shrugged his shoulder, “Nothing really, you were out here watching the house and I saw you from the kitchen window. I could tell it was you from your scent so I told Mom I was going to use my telescope for a bit,” he pointed to the telescope in the other corner of the yard, “and came out here to check on you.”

Scott looked around and Jason figured what he was wondering, “My Mom just left, I figured you might need something to wear home. You refused to leave last night.” Scott stepped out from the bushes immediately stepped on a sharp stick jumping up and wincing. “Sorry, I have a thing about people wearing my shoes,” Jason winced. Scott shook his head, “No big, I just need to watch where I am walking. So, no teeth or screaming children, no blood and gore and death? just you and me hanging out in your backyard?

Jason started walking toward the house and Scott followed, “Well, you didn’t want to leave the backyard, I thought maybe I could get you in the car and drive you home, but no dice. And every time you heard the neighbors two houses down yelling your fur rose up around your neck.”

Scott looked down the row of houses and Jason pointed to the house on the other side of the fence line. “They are always yelling and screaming at each other. Mom says that they make this seem like a bad neighborhood when it really isn’t. I overheard Mom talking to my Dad this morning that she was going to call the police because she thought they were all on drugs or something.”

He turned back toward the house, “Anyway, I come out of the house and you sniffed me and literally wagged your tail. It was too much! Just came walking up to me, this huge wolf and stood up to lick my face. I really didn’t know what to do, I mean, you weren’t talking and after I couldn’t get you to follow me to the car, I just started stargazing and talking to you about the constellations.” He pulled open the back door and stepped in the kitchen, “Your ears would perk up every so often like you were listening to something nearby but you never went anywhere and eventually I had to go in or Mom would have come out looking for me.”

Scott looked around the kitchen a moment noticing how clean everything was. Jason’s Mom must have been a very tidy homemaker. He wiped his barefeet thoroughly on the mat before stepping into the kitchen. “You want a drink?” Jason asked pulling the fridge open. “Sure, whatever is fine.” Jason tossed Scott a soda and cracked one open for himself. “Mom would freak if she saw me drinking soda this early.” Strict too, Scott thought, “So, you mind giving me a lift back to my house.” As soon as he said it that odd nagging feeling was clawing at the back of his mind. He thought that he was supposed to be spending time with his pack, so the wolf should be okay with him riding in the same car with Jason.

Jason smiled, “Yeah, no problem. I got my chores done before Mom left, so I have the whole day. Maybe you can show me how to shift and teach me how to fight, or we could play video games? I am really up for whatever.” Jason glanced down and coughed a little, "We probably should get you home first though, those shorts aren't... um, holding back the beast very well."

Scott tried to shake off the nagging feeling, “Sure, we can pick up Isaac when we get to my place and go from there.” He glanced down to his crotch as well and thought Isaac would probably be interested to see him.

* * *

The rental agent noticed the bloodstains on his wallet when he pulled it out of the duffle bag, but didn’t say anything to Peter as he pulled out his American Express with matching ID. Peter thought it was funny that all most people cared about was money.

His body was still working on healing all the internal damage done during the wreck and he was not feeling up to arguing with anyone about anything, so he was really happy when the agent took him out for the car inspection and Peter opened the car to find that it had not been smoked in. Peter signed off on the agreement and watched the rental agent as he seemed to hurry back inside. Something ached in his chest and he felt the urge to cough, as he started he found he couldn’t stop and the pain got worse, soon he was hacking up blood and finally coughed out small piece of blood coated material. It clinked like a piece of metal as it bounced off the pavement to land in the landscaping.

He spit out the blood from his mouth and smiled. I am one lucky bastard, he thought.

A tall tanned man with mirrored sunglasses pulled the binoculars out of Betsy’s hand, “You find out anything more?” He looked through the lenses toward the rental car agency.   
“He didn’t seem that interested in talking, but don’t worry, 72 hours from now, any back up the Alpha had planned will be long gone.” She smiled at the man pulling the binoculars away from him. “You know, sometimes it worries me how easy you can get away with lying to a wolf. They say that is a sign of a sociopath.”

“Only reason you are worried, is cause you don’t know if I am lying to you.” Betsy smiled again pulling the man into a soft kiss. “A girl has to have her secrets.”

* * *

She wasn’t ever sure if it was her Mother’s hippie family upbringing, or a cruel joke about her fair skin and almost white, pale-blonde hair, that lead to her name but she had decided she would take it either way. Winter was used to staying inside most of the day because the way the light hurt her eyes and from trying to avoid sunburns, so she was also used to being alone most of the time. She read lots of books, and had some friends online, but it was never really the same.

At the moment however Winter sat on her bed in a nest of blankets watching in morbid fascination as the red blood welled forward and then vanished as she pulled the shining silver razor blade along her forearm. It wasn’t that painful, and it wasn’t like it wasn’t something she had done before. Her childhood had been a twisted path to say the very least.

Was she really a vampire? She had read so many books about vampires and how they had to stay out of the sunlight and they would heal from any most any wound. All of her previous cutting scars were gone.

She listened intently to her mother sleeping in the next room. She could hear her breathing in and out and listening closer, she could even hear the slow beat of her heart.

Mom was ‘not feeling well’ again today. Winter bet that her Mom would feel a lot better if she would stop shooting her veins full of drugs.

She pulled out her journal and read over the last couple of entries. She already had pale skin, she was born with, and her journal was full of new things that made her believe that she might actually be a supernatural creature. She found an entry she didn’t want to read, but always wanted to keep. It had several key things that also pointed toward vampire. She could smell the cheap whiskey so strong on her father’s breath, her mother’s racing heartbeat and sobbing tears several rooms away, and she shut the journal closed as a tear welled up in her eyes. She was definitely strong enough to protect herself from now on. The bloodstain on the dented wall beside the door proved that.

Hopefully her ‘father’ wouldn’t be back after last night, and she could finally get someone to come and get her mother the help she needed now.

She caught a glimpse of her reflection in the mirror, her eyes glowed a golden hue. At this point it wasn’t even shocking anymore, it was settled in her mind. She needed to figure out if she needed to drink blood and how to, because all the books said that a thirsty vampire was a dangerous vampire, and she didn’t want to hurt anyone unnecessarily. She had decided that she would be a follower of the small drink, and only take what she needed to survive, never killing anyone if she could help it.

* * *

“Look who is finally awake” he heard as soon as his eyes cracked open. Who ever they were they weren’t messing around, the stun baton must have been altered because Ethan could still feel the burn on his neck healing slowly.

“I guess giving you a max shock was probably a bit much considering you aren’t an Alpha now, but I didn’t see your blue eyes until I had already hit you, sorry.” She smiled a sick sweet smile. It was obvious that she wasn’t sorry in the least. ”I suppose we should update the intel on the Alpha pack huh Trish?” the girl from the elevator was talking to another young girl standing over the table he was strapped to. “So, if you aren’t an Alpha, and we can’t seem to find Deucalion, I guess that Daddy is just going to have to put you down to keep you from going Omega, huh?”

The way she fake frowned and pouted out her lip reminded him of the bitchy popular girls from highschool. He hated the plastic clique that pranced around the hallways acting like they owned the whole school.

Ethan pulled at the straps holding him to the table and growled. He found that either they were very strong straps or he was very weak, either way, they weren’t going to budge. “He’s feisty,” said the girl called Trish, “and so very fit. I wish I could keep him” She ran the palm of her hand down his chest and across his abs, “I’d love to have some time to play.” He noticed the electrodes attached to his bare chest and arms. Ethan growled out a quip, “Barking up the wrong tree.”

Trish noticed Ethan eyeing the electrodes and smiled at the joke, “A dog joke, from a dog. How original.” She rolled her eyes and pressed one of the electrodes with her fingertip. “Must be the first time he has seen our tech Meg, should we tell him what it does?” Meg, the girl from the elevator leaned over the table, “Maybe we should just show him?” An evil look of sadistic pleasure came over her face.

Meg reached over and touched the button on a remote and the pain was instantaneous. It ripped across his chest and through his stomach. It felt like every single muscle fiber was on fire, compressing tighter than he ever felt. It was like a full body muscle spasm. Then as soon as it hit it stopped. “Amazing what you can do with four AAA batteries, a capacitor and a transformer.”

Ethan noticed the tears in his eyes and realized that he had stopped breathing for a second. “The conductive gel is the real secret, it gets the current under the skin so that we don’t need to carry around heavy car batteries. It also keeps you weak with a low voltage current. Amazing what technology can do.” Trish stepped back into his field of vision, “Now, you want to tell us where Deucalion is or this can keep going until Daddy gets back and decides what to do with you.”

“He’s gone, okay, I don’t know where he went, but he is gone, he’s been gone nearly a month.” He paused looking back and forth between them, “Please, what do you want from me? I don’t know anything about where he is.”

“What about the rest of your pack?” Trish said. Ethan ground his teeth and Trish looked over to Meg and she reached over to the remote.

“Wait,” Ethan said flexing his jaw, “Ennis and Kali are dead, Deucalion killed Ennis and Jennifer killed Kali.” “And?” Meg asked, her eyebrows high. Trish interrupted, “That was all Meg, there were only four Alphas in the-” “Shut up Trish, God, don’t you know anything about interrogation? You never let them know what you know.”

Meg sat the remote down, “You know it is almost a shame that you don’t have a pack, otherwise daddy wouldn’t have to kill you, but the lone wolf doesn’t survive long.”

* * *

The tip didn’t come last night after the six o’clock news and Jonathan spend most of the night shift sitting at his desk waiting to hear anything from the story. When they ran the story again on the morning news, they got a caller that identified the man on the security tapes as a Barry Pate. After running a background on him, they got an address and not much else. He seemed like a law abiding citizen that had been living in Beacon Hills most of his life.

The Sheriff still wanted to take all precautions to make sure. The new supernatural lifestyle he was involved in had changed his outlook on certain things and he didn’t want to go into anything unprepared.

So after getting the required warrant a small team of well trained officers was put together and they were surrounding the residence where Mr. Pate was known to live. The house looked completely vacant, but there was a compact car parked in the open garage.

Jonathan’s team went up to the front door while another team covered the other exits. He knocked on the door and it swung open. Not only was it not locked, it wasn’t even pulled closed. This wasn’t looking good.

An hour later they had went over the whole house looking for any kind of clue to his involvement with the sleepers and found nothing. The house was pretty sparsely decorated considering how long the man had been living there. It didn’t have the usual things you would expect from a home, no photo albums or pictures on the wall, no houseplants and very little in way of food or supplies. Everything in the cabinets and fridge was shelf stable and would last months without going bad. The house had some art hung around, but nothing personal. It looks like the house had been staged for a viewing and then never changed. The basement was completely empty but spotlessly clean, no dust anywhere.

They were just wrapping up and about to head back to the station when the next door neighbor pulled up and made a bee line to the house from his car. When he stepped on the porch to ask what was going on, Jonathan was on the porch to intercept him.

“Just what the hell is going on here?” The man was still carrying a brown paper bag full of groceries when he stepped up on the porch. The Sheriff stepped up to him and put his hand out to stop him from going any further, “This area is being searched in regards to an ongoing case,” He pulled out a photo of Barry Pate to show to the man, “Do you know this man?”

“Yeah, he is my neighbor, what is this all about?” Jonathan had to block him from walking into the house yet again. “Sir, this area is being searched, you can’t enter. Do you have any idea where Mr. Pate may be.” The man was getting red in the face at being obstructed from going into the house. “He may have gone for a walk in the park. He likes staying active.” The man frowned looking through the door at the disarrayed items. “I hope that you haven’t damaged any of his belongings, I have a lawyer friend that will be more than happy to sue the pants off your department.”

Jonathan pulled his radio up and sent a patrol to circle the park. “Sir, please, return to your home.” The man stumbled off down the walk to the driveway and toward his porch, the whole time glaring at the Sheriff. Jonathan thought he would have to check and see if there was any kind of connection there as well once he got back to the station.

The Sheriff’s cell rang and he pulled it out to answer, “Bad news Sheriff, we found him, but he is asleep just like the rest of them.” He could hear the police code calling for an ambulance to the park to pick up the unconscious male.

Another lead gone. Jonathan grabbed one of his officers, “I want this whole place taped off and a car posted. I have a feeling the neighbor may know more than he is letting on.”

* * *

After Deaton had left looking more worried that Stiles thought appropriate, Daz began giving Stiles impromptu magic lessons, teaching him how to use his force of will to control reality. He had already gotten the hang of changing the channels on the tv without a remote and once he got the idea settled in his mind that nothing was impossible, he was sort of a natural.

Daz explained that all matter, no matter what form, obeyed the strongest will to force upon it, so things that people took for granted, like gravity couldn’t easily be changed because many people were pushing their will to the belief that gravity was real, and so it was. But other things like individual items could easily be manipulated. He caused the water in his pitcher to freeze solid, he blew a paper airplane around the room several times on a breeze he made with his mind, and after folding a piece of paper into an origami crane found out how draining it was to do magic for extended periods of time.

He took a break and rested. Daz told him that it would take awhile for him to be able to do any significant magic for any long duration without feeling ill effects. Later Daz told him that he would help strengthen Stiles’ will by fighting against him using his own willpower to attempt to prevent the magic.

Daz even told him that he could speed his healing so that his bruised back wouldn’t hurt, but then he would have to explain it to the hospital or Melissa, and Stiles wasn’t in the mood to explain anything to anyone at the moment.

His flowers had dried out without water and he was willing them back to life when the Daz reached out to grip his wrist. ‘You have visitors,’ the voice whispered inside his mind.

A soft knock at the door was followed by Lydia peeking in the room. “Hey Stiles, I had an extra charger laying around that I just know you are dying for.” She stepped in the room, the charger displayed like a war trophy. “Oh my god Lydia, I could just kiss you.” She eyed him knowingly tilting her head to the side and he continued, “Yeah yeah, get over yourself, I get it, never gonna happen, you aren’t the only person that I have wet dreams about anyway.” He stuck his tongue out at her. Daz moved to the head of the bed closest to the door.

Allison stepped in the room behind Lydia and Stiles continued to talk at his usual neverending pace, “And now I have embarrassed myself in front of Allison, thanks for mentioning that she was right behind you Lydia.” He growled a little at her name, ducking his head down and waving a little at Allison. “what are you two up to today? what is going on in the outside world? It has been so long since I have seen the sun!!”

Lydia stepped up to hand the charger to him and Daz stepped up from beside the bed to get between her and Stiles but stayed enough out of the way so that she could reach out and hand it to him without touching her. She paused watching Stiles as he eyed Daz out of the corner of his eye. “We are just planning a girls day at the spa for later…. is everything okay Stiles?”

He pulled the charger from her hand and reached for his cell phone on the nightstand plugging the charger into the phone. “Yeah, I am good, I just haven’t had my Adderol in a couple days cause they thought it might cause an adverse reaction if mixed with other meds. So I have been...” He paused for a second and realized that he hadn’t been feeling any kind of the usual symptoms that he felt when he missed his dose. Daz whispered inside his mind, ‘I have been the extra thoughts in your mind this whole time.’ “Brain has just been going a million miles per hour, non-stop for several days now, and you think that I would be getting tired, but not really, it just keeps rolling like a train on the tracks, crazy idea after crazy idea and without my phone I can’t even google things anymore, and after all the sleeping I did I really didn’t feel like going back to sleep any time soon.” He was really a natural at being his crazy hyperactive self so it didn’t feel odd faking it.   
“So Allison, what do you think about the new talismans that Dr. D is supposed to be whipping up for us, excited to be able to sleep without having nightmares?”

It was a mean diversion, but an effective one. Allison looked like she was uncomfortable talking about it, suddenly like she didn’t want the talisman. Stiles almost felt bad for putting the attention on her. Lydia stepped back and touched Allison on the shoulder, Allison finally spoke, “Yeah, I really just want to forget all about this supernatural stuff, I need a break from it all so bad.”

Daz touched Stiles’ arm, ‘Something is off about her, both of them really, but Allison doesn’t seem to be acting normally. And Lydia just feels wrong,’ he tilted his head to the side eyeing her and Stiles tried not to make it obvious that he was watching Daz out of the corner of his eyes, ‘I can’t quite place what it is about her that is off.’

Allison seems to notice the lull in conversation and tries to fill the uncomfortable silence, “Scott is planning a cook-out to get to know his new pack members. He would probably want you to know, he has two new members. The first is a guy named Jason and he just found out about a chick named Samantha, but I think she goes by Sam.” The mention of Scott causes the guilt of the secret to hit Stiles and he gets quieter. “I haven’t met her but Jason seems to be pretty cool. Hopefully you will be out of the hospital by the time they have the cook-out and you can meet them both.” She smiled brightly, the smile was real, the level was obviously forced. Stiles smiled back hoping that it looked sincere, “Yeah, if I get out of the hospital I might need to take a break from the supernatural as well. Not sure how excited I will be to hang out with two newly bitten werewolves.” Allison looked like she hadn’t even thought about that.

A knock at the door interrupted them and the doctor popped his head in. He looked around the room, “I didn’t realize you had visitors, should I come back later?” Stiles held up his hand, “No, no, you can say whatever in front of them.” Lydia moved to the other side of the bed so the doctor could come closer to the bed.

“I am going to be upfront and honest with you, the legal department at the hospital is still against sending you home because of the extremely odd events that have been going on, but we have been over your MRI several times and can’t see any reason for the brief coma. I’ve already spoke with your father about all this and we decided that you can go home tomorrow morning, BUT,” he paused for emphasis tapping his pen on the clipboard, “If you have any odd sensations, feel dizzy, or any of the symptoms on the list I have here, you are to return to the hospital immediately. Call 911 if you need to.” He handed the list over to Stiles and excused himself from the room. It was two pages of symptoms that had obviously been generated by the legal department.

Lydia reached up to grip Stiles’ shoulder, “That is great news Stiles.” Daz turned to smoke behind the doctor and reformed next to Lydia watching her touch closely. Stiles forced himself not to look away from Lydia’s eyes as she smiled brightly. He could feel something he couldn’t quite put his finger on tingling just below the surface where her hand met his shoulder. The sensation gave him reason to think that Daz may be on to something. He stopped for a moment and noticed that her eyes were a pale blue, not their usual gold highlighted green, and they didn’t look like contacts. He watched as Lydia noticed him noticing her eye color watched her genuine smile falter and a fake one take its place as she quickly looked at the floor.

‘You see, something is not right about her.’ Lydia stepped back and grabbed Allison’s hand pulling her up from the chair. “Well, we had better get going if we are going to make our appointment at the salon.” Allison stepped over to the bedside and leaned over pressing a quick kiss to his forehead and Daz sneered inside his head. A different sensation prickled against his forehead, “Maybe we can all take a break from the supernatural when you get out of here and just have a normal cook-out.”

Allison followed Lydia out the door and Stiles thought to himself, well, to himself and Daz who was always listening, yeah right. Daz whispered inside his mind, ‘I can sense magic on them both, not the same, but something. You need to be alert around them, don’t let your guard down.’ Stiles looked up at Daz and frowned, “I am feeling kind of tired, is that from the magic?” Daz shook his head yes, ‘It drains you of energy, imagine the energy that Jeniffer used, but then she had taken the free will from nine people.’

Daz moved to the foot of the bed, ‘One more lesson and you can sleep for a bit. The reason the Darach killed the sacrifices with the threefold death was because there is power in breath, in blood, and in thought. By taking them each from her victims she was able to weld much more power than had she just stabbed them. That is why I was against you letting the vet take your blood.’

Stiles lay back against the pillow and thought about his new gift. He closed his eyes and hoped for a dreamless sleep.

* * *

 

Hannah West is in the middle of making sugar cookies to give to her daughter when she got in from boarding school that evening when a knock on the front door surprised her. She wasn’t expecting any visitors today.

She sat the rolling pin down and wiped her hands off with a damp towel while walking toward the door. A normal person would look through the peep-hole and verify the person on the other side of the door, and typically Hannah tried to pretend that she was perfectly normal, but she wasn’t.

She didn’t have much to worry about from the supernatural, the doors had wards carved in the wood before it was even painted, and there were several rings of various magical substances imbedded behind the baseboards and under the threshold that completely circled the house. She would never be taken surprise by a supernatural creature, and no magic from another could penetrate her defenses.

She pulled the door open and Alan stood there looking wide eyed, “Claudia broke more rules than we thought and you may want to get involved now that I tell you what is going on.” He paused putting his hand on the frame of the door. “Please, I need to talk to you in private.”

Hannah waved her hand in the air  undoing the ward and Alan stepped through the doorway into the kitchen. Hannah stepped back over to her cookies and started rolling the pin across the dough calmly, “Tell me what is going on Alan, and don’t bother beating around the bush, I don’t have time for your theatrics.” “After all the dangerous things that Claudia did, we finally convinced her that she needed to fix it for Stiles’ sake. He would never have been able to live a normal life with all the twisted magic she had performed to have him. So she tried to seal his powers, he remembered that much in his dream, but-” he paused searching for something. Hannah rolled her eyes and cleared her throat, “Theatrics Alan, out with it!”

Alan looked down into the palms of his hands remembering the events from earlier at the hospital, “Whatever Claudia did to seal his power fractured his psyche. The power has been closed off from him, but it has still been growing inside him. It is breaking through the seal. He was asking me about summoning spells and contracts, the rules for how they are performed and what control we have over summoned beings.”  He looked up at a still calm Hannah, rolling her cookie dough, “He actually believes that his mother summoned a creature from a parallel dimension to protect him.”

Hannah stopped cutting out the sugar cookies for a moment sitting the cutter aside, “This is all going on inside his head?” A dark look came over Alan’s face as he shook his head no, “He formed the shadows in the room into a replica of himself right in front of me in the hospital room. Completely opaque, I could feel the air shift in the room as it moved. It spoke to me aloud from the four corners of the room.”

Hannah’s mouth drew into a tight line. “It was just like…” Alan trailed off not wanting to finish the sentence. Hannah finished it for him, “Philip.” She walked over to the table and sat down in one of the chairs looking as though her thoughts were a million miles away, “I thought Claudia and he had been sharing secrets. I guess Claudia was training the boy before she erased his memory and sealed his powers.”

“I’ll see what I can do Alan, I don’t like this, this getting dragged back into this mess after all these years. But this is partly my responsibility and I will do what I can.”  
Alan walked toward the doorway out of the kitchen, “With the Nemeton awakened, you knew that things would be changing. I can’t say I blame you for wanting to be away from it all, but I’m afraid our fate has been decided ever since we decided to stay.”

Alan stepped out the front door leaving it open as he walked down the walk to his car. Hannah watched  from the table as he continued down the path and then with a flick of her wrist the door shut and the deadbolt snapped shut.

She picked up her phone and dialed the hospital number from memory. “Hey Fran it’s Hannah, is Melissa McCall working today……. Yeah, page her to the phone if you would, I have a project for that strapping young boy she took in…….. Oh don’t you worry, Rachel won’t be going anywhere near boys until she graduates from school.

* * *

He put the car in park outside the coffee shop, this was the fifth text message that he sent Ethan this morning and he didn’t answer his phone when he called, it went straight to VM. He would be worried, but really what could happen to a werewolf?

Danny would never understand boys, one day they are taking you out to fancy restaurants and romantic hikes in the woods, longingly looking into your eyes like you were perfection and then completely avoiding you the next.

He hopped out of the car to walk in the shop and straight for the counter. It was nice coming in and not having to wait in a line. He ordered and took a seat in the back. He thought to himself, I am not waiting for Ethan, I am just having a relaxing cup of coffee at the Starbucks that I just happened to have messaged Ethan about earlier.

He pulled out his phone bored with the waiting, wait, he wasn’t waiting, just bored with the silence.

Danny to Stiles: Meant to tell you I figured out your GPS question.

The message barely had time to send and the phone rang. Danny looked at the display and it was Stiles calling. “Hello Stiles, eager much?” The playful tone in his voice was teasing Stiles for the secret they shared. “Danny, didn’t anyone ever tell you it isn’t nice to tease someone that is in the hospital?”

A wince of guilt actually hit him, he had forgotten all about the fact that Stiles was in the hospital. He had meant to stop by at some point and bring him some flowers or something. Stiles continued without missing a beat, just like always, “So what did you find out. The disappearances are related, aren’t they?” Danny smiled. “Not only were they all last transmitting from the same area of the preserve, but I checked my maps of the telluric currents running under the ground, and several of the paths cross there.”

Stiles was breathing quietly on the other end of the phone, it was odd hearing Stiles not talk.

Meanwhile the silence that Danny was listening to was filled with Daz whispering inside Stiles’ head, ‘The telluric currents are energy pathways that the Fae may be utilizing to create a rift to the other realm. If they were all taken from the same area, you can be assured that she has them in the Seelie court.’

Danny cleared his throat, “Are you still there?” “Yeah, I- sorry, I was thinking, so do you think that maybe their batteries all went dead at that point? Or maybe the currents cause some kind of cellular signal issue?” Stiles rambled trying not to let Danny figure that he knew more than he was telling.

“I don’t know about any of that, but I do have something else to mention.” Danny paused thinking whether he should say anything. He tried to whisper so no one would over hear him, “While I was in the system looking for Deucalion, someone else was tracking me. They contacted me by my cell phone as soon as I disconnected, that is a totally different line! They said they wanted to be the first to know when we found Deucalion, or they would send the trace records to the FBI. All I know about them is that they are actually in this area, they were tracking me from the library servers at the local community college.”

“I already have hacking on my record,” he got a little louder, “If this gets out, I am screwed.” Stiles was trying pay attention to what Danny was saying, but Daz kept interrupting with thoughts on how they might be able to force the rift back open and enter the other realm, but there was no guarantee that they would be able to get back. He seriously felt like he needed his medication to concentrate.

All pretense of whispering was out the door at this point, “Stiles, I really don’t know what to do at this point. I just want it to be over with, but I don’t know what to do. What do you think?” “I’m sorry Danny, I don’t know what to tell you to do on that one.” He thought about all the trouble that Deucalion had caused for them in the past, “If it were me, I would just give them the information as soon as I found out. You don’t owe Deucalion anything, and it sounds like they really want to know where he is.”

Danny noticed a pretty blonde chick sitting in the booth next to him watching him and then quickly looking away embarrassed at getting caught.

Stiles couldn’t handle Daz in his head and trying to talk on the phone. He reached out and knocked on the hospital table in front of him. “Danny, I got to go, the nurse is here to take my vitals. It’s up to you what you decide to do. Gotta go.”

The phone disconnected before Danny even said bye and it struck him how odd it was that Stiles wasn’t spouting off theories about how they were abducted and rambling on about his idea actually being right. He held the phone out looking at the ‘call ended’ screen and huffed, “Okay, Bye.”

He lay the phone face down on the table and leaned back into the seat looking up toward the ceiling for a second. He glanced back over at the blonde who was looking at him again, but this time she didn’t look away. She stood up and walked over to the table stretching out her hand, “Hey, I’m Rose,” Danny took her hand and shook it lightly, “Danny.” “I think I got stood up by my blind date. I thought for a second that it might have been you, and that would have been awesome cause you are adorable, but I overheard the break up with Stiles. I’m sorry, boys are jerks.”

Danny laughed, “No,” he laughed again, “Stiles isn’t my boyfriend, but I do have one, and I apparently got stood up as well.” His phone chimed a notification.

Unavailable to Danny: I don’t like you talking to people about our arrangement. Excuse yourself from the blonde and go to the restroom, I want to have a chat.

Danny looked around the restaurant with wide eyes. Then he noticed the security cameras and thought how easy they would be to access remotely. He looked back at Rose, “Hey, I’m just going to run to the bathroom, don’t go anywhere?” She smiled warmly and nodded.

Luckily the bathroom was vacant and Danny stepped into the last stall. He pulled his phone out and realized he didn’t have  a number to call the person back. He put the lid down on the toilet and had just sat down about the time the phone rang.

“Tell me more about telluric currents.” It wasn’t a request, it was a demand. Danny hated being treated like this but really didn’t have any other option.

“They are underground currents of energy, some might call pseudoscience, they fall under the same category as ley lines and standing stones.” He didn’t feel like offering any more information to the jerk that was blackmailing him.

“Ley lines you say, sounds like the elder ones might have taken my gift away, but it doesn’t matter, surely Deucalion will know better than to eat or drink anything they offer. They will return him eventually, and I will- …. - be the- … - first one to find out when you locate him. Is that understood?” In the middle of the sentence the voice sounded distorted and then fixed itself. Danny didn’t say anything, but it sounded like the person on the other end of the phone was using a voice modifier, which meant that they didn’t want to use their real voice. Danny grumbled, “I got it. Soon as I find out anything, I will let you know.”

“You won’t need to let me know. As soon as you find out, I will already know. Keep our arrangement to yourself, and don’t talk to this Stiles about it anymore either.” Danny immediately thought that maybe it was Gerard that was behind this, but he wouldn’t be able to hack shit, and he didn’t think the person was faking the fact that they didn’t know who Stiles was. “I’ll be keeping my eyes and ears on you, so watch it, unless you want your juvenile records unsealed when you go back to jail for the same thing.” The line went dead.

Danny thought back to the girl in the coffee shop, he hated to keep her waiting outside, but he didn’t really want to be rude either. She seemed very nice.

He stepped out of the stall and walked to the sink, he ran the cold water and splashed some on his face, grabbing a towel to dry. He looked at himself in the mirror. “I’m too pretty to go to jail.”

He pulled the door open and walked back to the table, “You wanna get out of here,” he said looking up at the surveillance camera, “I need some retail therapy.” Rose’s face split into a huge smile. “Oh my gawd, that sounds like so much fun.” Danny caught a slight hint of a southern accent. “And they have these chairs at the mall that they give you a massage for five bucks, I need one bad.” She rubbed at her neck.

Danny smiled putting out his hand to help her up, “Well, it is settled. Since we both got stood up, we can be each other’s dates for the day.”

* * *

Jason was really getting the hang of shifting and even just getting his claws to pop out on demand. Scott asked him about an anchor, how he was keeping in control of himself so well and Jason just looked at him like he didn’t understand. Scott explained how difficult it had been for him when he first was bitten, maintaining control of himself and not wolfing out when he didn’t mean to. Jason just smiled, “I guess my Mom has me well trained already?”

Scott didn’t understand, but he was glad to see that Jason was keeping himself in check somehow. Scott, Isaac and he had spent a good hour running around the edge of the preserve, practicing shifting, and testing his new strength and abilities. Jason was like a kid in a candy shop running around and picking up heavy logs, leaping through the air, and he could climb up a tree in no time.

They were just winding down when Scott’s cell phone rang. He pulled it out, but didn’t recognize the number and answered hesitantly, “Hello?”

A female voice on the other end of the phone said flatly, “Alpha Mccall?” His heart hammered in his chest and Isaac moved closer to him listening in on the conversation. “Who is this?” Scott growled.

The voice on the other end of the phone sucked air through her teeth, “I’ll take that as a yes. Look, I don’t have time to toy with you. Daddy will be back soon and we have a wolf that claims they are part of your pack. Either they are, or they are dead. Daddy doesn’t play around with Omega wolves.”

Scott looked at Isaac and mouthed ‘Samantha?’ Isaac shrugged his shoulders, wide eyed. “I tell you what, I am feeling generous and Daddy isn’t here yet.” Jason moved up behind Isaac furrowing his brow while listening in. “So, I’ll send you the coordinates, and if he is your wolf, come get him. Come alone, and don’t try anything stupid.” The line went dead.

Scott looked up at Isaac, “He?” Isaac shook his head, “I dunno Scott, you think you might have bit someone else?” Scott looked like he hadn’t even thought of that. “Crap,” his phone chimed with an incoming message, it was a link to the coordinates, “Isaac, take Jason home and go check on Sam-” Isaac stepped forward grabbing Scott by the shoulder, “But I should come with you.” Scott shook his head, “They said come alone. As much as I hate it, I am responsible for whoever I bit and I can’t jeopardize that by trying something.” He paused looking confused, “ I just don’t get how they would know that I am their Alpha, but didn’t come find me.”

* * *

About the time Stiles faked a nurse knocking at the door and he hung up from talking to Danny, a real nurse knocked on the door. He walked in with Stiles’ bookbag over his shoulder, “Hey kid, the Sheriff dropped this off at the desk for you,” he sat the bag on the bed next to Stiles, “he said, he figured that you would be bored now that you were awake, and he couldn’t find your cell phone-” The nurse paused going through his obviously memorized message from his father to notice the cell phone plugged into the wall, “Looks like you got that sorted out though aye?”

Stiles smiled, “Yeah, thanks. My Dad say why he didn’t come to the room,” reading the nurses name tag, “Bryan?” Bryan frowned at first not knowing if he had forgotten meeting Stiles before, but then noticed Stiles eyeing his nametag. “No, he was actually looking like he was going to come visit, had his usual coffee and a bag of food he left on the counter, but got some kind of an urgent call and handed it to me with the message.”

Stiles sat up a little straighter, “Did you hear the message?” Bryan looked like he really just wanted to leave, “Yeah kid, but it was all police jargon. I think they said something like 5150 maybe? It was a lot of numbers so, I don’t know all of what he said. All I know is that he said he had to go, I got to get back to the phone, we are short staffed.”

Stiles pulled the bag up the bed and pulled out his laptop, he noticed a couple of snacks his Dad had tossed in the bag as well. He wanted to feel all kinds of warm fuzzies, but he was still pissed about the whole situation with his Dad lying to him for, well, for his whole life.

5150 was a mentally unstable person, he wondered why his Dad wouldn’t just let the other officers handle it. He wished that he could log on to the police dispatch network, but his Dad found out that he was doing so and changed his password a couple months ago.

He powered on the laptop waiting for it to start up and started thinking about Danny’s problem. Someone that was a much better hacker than Danny was would probably also have a record. Danny mentioned that they were tracking him from the library at the community college, so, maybe they had ties to the school as well, and then… he was already making a web of possible connections that might help lead him to the identity of the person that was blackmailing Danny. Sometimes he loved the way that his mind worked, other times he wondered if something might not be normal.

He glanced across the room to where Daz stood listening to the sounds of the hospital. He was pretty sure the word normal would not be used to describe him… ever.

He stopped cross referencing data against people at the community college for a second and thought about Derek. Daz had said the Fae must have taken them to the other side. He wasn’t sure why they would have been taken, but that they would be returned soon, or never. Time was different in the fae realm, but humans, even werewolves would have to eat at some point and if they did they could be kept indefinitely.

He started typing again, maybe this person looking for Deucalion knew more about the situation. If Stiles could find him, then they would have more of a chance at getting Derek and Cora back. Or at least he hoped that they would.

****  
  



	7. Crumbling Decay

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, please let me know if you see any mistakes that need corrected.
> 
> Sorry for the delays, you know how life is.

* * *

 

As soon as Lydia stepped out of her vehicle, she was met face to face with a very worried, and glowing blue eyed Aiden.  He gripped her shoulders somewhat more firmly than he intended and Lydia squeaked out a warning as he rushes into an explanation of his troubles. It comes out as a mash of words with no breaks "I haven't heard from Ethan since this morning cell phone goes straight to voicemail smelled wolfsbane in the elevator of the condo Danny's house was empty and I keep sensing that he is in a lot of pain."

Lydia's curiosity perks up at the last part, "you can actually sense each other's pain?" Aiden looks at her like he is exasperated, "yes, we've been connected like that ever since the bite, but that isn't really important right now! He is missing and the only hunters in town are the Argents, where is Allison, I can smell her on you!."

Lydia puts her hand up to his chest that is still heaving with deep breaths, "let's not jump to conclusions, I just dropped Allison off at the tanning salon for her spray tan appointment, and she has been with me all day, have you even tried calling Danny yet?"

The muscle in Aiden's jaw flexed as he ground his teeth and Lydia raised her eyebrows at him, "well?" Aiden dropped his hands from her shoulders and crossed his arms over his chest, "I didn't know his number."

Lydia pulled out her phone quickly dialing as she muttered, "all this time they have been dating and you never thought you might need his number?" She pressed her newly manicured finger against his lips when he started to reply, "shhh, its ringing."

Aiden could hear Danny's voice through the phone but it sounded tinny and like he was whispering, "in a movie, is it important?" It was the closest Lydia had ever heard Danny to being rude. Thought Lydia was surprised that Danny would even answer the phone in a movie theater, he must have saw it was her and thought it was an emergency. "Are you with Ethan?" Lydia might have tried to make it seem more urgent, but it came out less worried, more casual. "No, he stood me up for coffee this morning and has been ignoring my texts and calls all day, when you see him tell him I'm pissed! Got to go." He hung up without another word.

Lydia looked back at Aiden, "Okay, maybe now we can worry, but its not Allison, she's been with me all day."

* * *

The highway was nearly deserted since they had put the bypass in and Chris was really happy about that fact, it made noticing any suspicious vehicles that much easier as he made his way backtracking from the five miles he went out of his way. The only thing out there was a little run down gas station before you went into the preserve, and even that was closed to vehicles.

He checks his rearview mirror and glances up at the overcast sky, it was already late in the day and Alex could easily follow him through the shadows of the trees. Hopefully he wasn’t even following him to begin with, but Chris hoped that the 5 mile trek would up the odds. He jerked the SUV off the road into a nearly unnoticable gap in the trees that covered the start of an old logging road. He shifted the vehicle into 4 wheel drive and started driving.

His thoughts wandered back to the time when he had found out about what Gerard was planning to do to rid the world of vampires. It seemed like such a brilliant plan at the time. Back when Chris was younger and all the monsters seemed like cookie cutter copies of what his father had told him they were, back before he realized that these monsters were actually people, they had families and lives, that just because they were a vampire or a werewolf didn’t make them a monster. He thought about his Father’s actions over the years. It seemed that monsters came in many forms.

He pulled up to the knotted trees that had been wrapped around each other to mark the safe house in the middle of the woods. He parked the SUV and walked around the back to get his pack and slid his handgun into the holster under his arm. As he made his way through the woods he was extra careful to watch for any traps that his Father would have set up for the vampire or any of the werewolves. A snare line was set but looked like it had been set for a long time, overgrown with vines, it probably wouldn’t even work now.

Chris noticed that wolfsbane was actually growing wild around the area, no doubt seeded long ago by someone in their family, but untended and thriving on its own.

He reached the bent tree that pointed to the entrance of the safe house. It was a tree that someone had bent over and buried in the ground long ago, it continued growing, but made an excellent pointer for directions. It was a good thing that it was there, otherwise the overgrown trees would have completely hidden the door.

The safehouse was set up almost like a bomb shelter. Long ago the Argents had bribed a Park Ranger to overlook their activity in the area while they put it in. It was all underground except the entrance which was a small concrete structure nearly completely covered in vines, and sheltered by several bushes and trees. They had emergency provisions and a small weapons stockpile, it was quite large underneath the surface, room enough for a small family to hide out for at least a month.

Chris listened hesitantly and looked around the woods. He looked over the bushes near the entrance, none of their branches looked disturbed, but Gerard would know better than to go barrelling through the woods leaving a trail to follow.

If he went closer to inspect the building, Alex could be watching from the distance and come in later to finish off the old man. He thought back to what Allison had said when she asked why they should care if Gerard was killed, but he had reminded her that their motto was to protect those who couldn’t protect themselves. Unfortunately that included Gerard, who most definitely couldn’t protect himself from an experienced vampire.

He drew in a deep breath and huffed it out walking tentatively toward the bushes. He slid between the branches carefully, trying to be a quick as possible while still watching for any triggers for traps. The area beneath the trees was tight and quite dark, as he looked around for any signs of activity he had to pull out a flashlight just to make sure he didn’t overlook anything. From the inside of the bushes looking out, it seemed like a different world, it was so much brighter just beyond the leaves.

The beam from the flashlight fell on the door to the bunker and it was completely covered in a layer of dirt. Vines were actually starting to grow up the front of the door and Chris figured to get in, he would actually have to cut them away. There was no way that anyone had been in there in years. He huffed a breath out his nose in frustration. Wasted a whole evening driving out here to check out what he thought was a solid lead and got nothing to show for it.

After carefully exiting the trees and trekking back to his vehicle he was about 20 feet away when he heard the snap of a branch and stopped dead in his tracks. He reached to his handgun and draws quickly pointing the gun at the figure that stepped out from behind the tree. He stopped short when he recognized the face of the man. “Steven? What the hell are you doing out here?” Steven’s smile looked like a grimace, “I think you know very well what we are doing here, I’ll bet it was just what you were doing here.” He leaned into the tree looking behind Chris and nodding. Chris quickly looked over his shoulder to find the barrel of a rifle pointed at the back of his skull. “Chris you probably won’t remember Anne,” Anne barely lifted her chin at the introduction, still not lowering her weapon. “Her brothers and her are all that are left of the Rancourt hunters.” Chris looked around the clearing to see if he saw anyone else, but no one was visible. “Sorry to trespass in your territory but since you seem to be playing house with all the filthy dogs in this town, we figured that we would have to take care of the blood sucker ourselves.” Steven keyed his radio and lifted it to his mouth, “Target is Chris Argent. No sign of Alexander or Gerard, back to the truck.”

“Never would have found this damn place if I didn’t stick a bug on your vehicle. I mean, Gerard had mentioned it to my Dad in passing, but I guess it is a family secret.” Steven looked smug at finding Chris in the woods, but Chris figured the actual bunker hadn’t completely been uncovered. Chris holstered his gun, “Well, no one has been here in years, so, it was a waste of time coming here. If you guys are here to take out the vampire, we need to work together.”

Steven put his hand up silencing Chris. “Anne gives the orders, she is first in command, unless you have a leader?” Chris winced. Allison should be the leader but if he was honest with himself, he didn’t think that she was up to it. “Allison technically isn’t 18 yet,” he paused looking at Anne, “but I would appreciate you and her working together as much as possible.” He noted that Anne still had her rifle trained on him, but nodded curtly.

Steven coughed, “You can lower your weapon Anne, Chris isn’t the enemy.” Anne looked to Steven and back at Chris, her voice had a lilt of an accent that Chris couldn’t place, “vampire thralls don’t know they are controlled, I’d rather not take chances.”

They made their way back down the trail to the vehicles without any conversation, Anne kept her distance from Chris and her rifle raised but her finger just off the trigger. Steven was on his tablet the entire time completely oblivious to his surroundings. Chris on the other hand noticed the newly set traps along the trail and the two very muscular looking guys standing at the khaki colored SUV.

Steven turned abruptly to Chris, “You have Omega wolves in your town?” Chris looked at him like he had no idea what he was talking about. “Playing nice with fucking filthy wolves is one thing, but letting Omegas run free, you and your daughter should be ashamed of yourselves.” Steven sneered at Chris, “I know that Victoria would -” Chris slammed Steven into the side of the SUV and growled “Keep your mouth shut about my family!” Chris felt the strong hands of the two younger men pulling him off Steven.

Anne stepped between the two men calmly, “We have all lost family to the lifelong battle with the wolves. Let’s not make things personal.” She looked at Chris and then back at Steven. Chris spoke first, “I don’t know of any Omega wolves in my territory, they are all either with McCall or they are Alphas in their own right.”

Anne looked back to Steven raising her eyebrows expectantly. “My daughters found a wolf with blue eyes and no Alpha to claim, am I correct in assuming that the Alpha pack has been missing their leader for nearly a month?”

Chris moved back away from the SUV and stepped toward his vehicle, but still within conversation range. “We had a mass exodus of people after we were able to kill Jennifer, or Julia, the Darach. After that Deucalion left the two other Alphas to fend for themselves, but they are not Omega, they are both Alphas. I would have already taken care of it otherwise.”

Steven pulled up his smartphone and showed a picture of a snarling partially shifted wolf strapped to a table to Anne. She looked back to Chris, “the boy has blue eyes.” Chris’ eyebrows furrowed at her statement. “Something recently must have changed their status. Most people believe that an Alpha must be killed to lose their status, but if they are beaten badly in a fight with another Alpha, they can also drop down in status.”

Anne stepped closer to Chris, “You know as well as I do that Omega wolves are unstable and dangerous. All of us have lost loved ones to rogue wolves.” She glanced back to Steven and he avoided her gaze by looking off into the woods. One of the young men behind her had a drawn mouth and glaring eyes at the statement. “I agree with Steven that we must dispose of the wolf unless he can show allegiance to an Alpha.” She looked back at Steven, “I don’t remember telling your daughters to take any action, they were to observe the members of the Alpha pack until we got back.” Steven didn’t look like he cared what Anne thought about what his daughers were doing, but replied quite believably, “Something must have happened to spur them into action. I will talk to them about it when we get back.”

Chris turned to go back to his vehicle and Anne called after him, “I assume that you will be offering your assistance Chris, we will reconvene at your residence in 2 hours.”

Chris merely nodded and turned to continue to his truck. This day was not going as he planned. He pulled out his cell phone and stared at his phone screen considering calling Allison. She had been under so much stress lately, he really didn’t want to pull her back in unless it was absolutely necessary.

He pressed the power button putting the phone to sleep and sat it on the seat next to him. He slotted the key in the  ignition and turned.

* * *

 

The metal detector went off for the third time in a row, several people in line huffed out annoyed breaths and sucked their teeth and Peter grit his teeth trying not to growl out loud. “Are you sure that you emptied everything out of your pockets?” Peter literally bit the tip of his tongue until it bled to keep from barking back at the woman as he smiled nodding his head. The frumpy gray haired TSA officer looked as annoyed as Peter felt. She looked like she had a mouth full of lemons when she stepped around the counter and picked up the manual metal detector wand.

It looked like she felt it was absolutely ridiculous that she was having to do anything manually as she bent over and waved the wand around his bare feet, then traveling up his body and between his legs. “Spread your arms please sir.” ‘Sir’ sounded like it was not the choice word that she would prefer to use. The wand buzzed as she waved around his heart.

She literally rolled her eyes and huffed out a breath, “Sir, If you have a pacemaker, all you had to do was say so and we could have saved all this time.Please gather your things at the other end of the belt.” Peter smiled his most charming fake smile and stepped up to the plastic bin holding his shoes, belt, and any other various items from his pockets that he thought might have been making the metal detector go off. The officer did not smile back at him, but she mechanically spit out, “Thank you sir, We hope you enjoy your flight, and have a great day.”

As soon as Peter finished at the security checkpoint he started wondering what the metal in his chest might be, cause he sure as hell didn’t have or need a pacemaker. He thought back to the chunk of metal that he coughed up and it hit him that his body was probably still holding bits of metal from the car wreck. I certainly explained the uncomfortable pain he was still feeling, but he could have chalked that up to nearly dying less than 24 hours ago.

He was almost running while pulling his luggage behind him trying not to miss his flight after the nearly 30 minutes waiting at the checkpoint. He would have to see if Alan could give him an x-ray when he got back to Beacon Hills. He was just considering whether Alan would be likely to give him any grief trying to get him to continue with his arrangement as the Hale pack emissary now that none of the Hale family could claim the Alpha status, when the stewardess showed him the last open seat in coach next to a man that Peter immediately thought he recognized. The man was Asian with strong cheekbones and bright eyes behind his wire frames. He had a tousled spiky haircut and a tee shirt that looked like it was anime inspired, pierced ears and a small tattoo just behind his ear. He looked up and smiled warmly at Peter before looking back out the window.

He shoved his carry on luggage in the overhead bin and took his seat next to the familiar man. He pulled out the book he had planned on reading, but the curious scent wafting off the man in the seat next to him was too much for him to ignore.

“I’m sorry, but I feel like I know you, have we met before?” The man turned to him and had a curious look on his face. “I don’t know. You seem somewhat familiar to me as well.” the stereotypical Asian accent was replaced with what you might consider a California surfer accent. “My name is Phoenix, Phoenix Kim.” The name hit him in the gut. The Kim family had been in Beacon Hills years ago and the warm bright eyes still looked the same as they did when Peter was 7. Phoenix eyed him waiting for his name in return.

Peter’s mouth was suddenly very parched thinking back to the choking smoke of the Hale fire and the searing pain from the flames as they blacken his flesh, he watched his memories as they flashed before his eyes, they seemed like someone else's memories … or someones nightmares.

Older memories played like over the horrid ones of the housefire, Peter watched quietly from the woods with his heightened night vision as Phoenix stepped through his Tai Chi movements, gentle flames danced off his fingertips as he waved them through the motions of the meditative dance. The warm light glowed casting shadows across his face as he moved with such grace. The memory brought back awkward feelings from his childhood, feeling he hadn’t considered in a long time.

Peter swallowed harshly and blinked, “I’m sorry, I am completely exhausted. Peter Hale, I believe I knew of your family back in Beacon Hills, years ago.” Phoenix’s smile brightened, “Yeah, my family is originally from there, but then we moved around a lot when I was younger. It has been a long time since I have been there, I am actually headed back there, I got a position teaching at the high school.”

Peter nodded, “What subject do you teach?” “Science, well, Chemistry is what I will be teaching. Beacon Hills has lost a few teachers lately and needed to replace them, hopefully I am not moving into a bad town?” He lowered his chin looking over his glasses at Peter.

The scent Phoenix emanated was something that Peter had forgotten about, it was the smell of resting magic. Not the various herbs and trinkets that Deaton played with, but natural, raw power. “I have a feeling that you will fit in just fine.”

 

* * *

As Scott walks tentatively through the woods he keeps catching an odd scent. Maybe not the best way to describe it, he keeps losing scent of anything other than this scent. It isn’t exactly an overpowering odor, but it seems to block out everything else. As he gets closer to the location provided it is all that he smells. He walks past what looks like a small black trashcan with stainless steel panel over the lid. It was only about two foot tall and generating a strange white noise, but it was the source of the smell. It left a taste in the back of his throat like the taste of the air before a thunderstorm.

It felt odd to lose his sense of smell, like he was missing an arm or leg and the white noise was making it hard for him to use his hearing to locate the hunter’s as well. He kept walking slowly looking around constantly trying to keep his eyes open for any dangers. He could feel his wolf’s unease clawing just beneath the surface. He finally caught sight of one of the girl’s rings glinting in distance the light catching as it filtered through the trees. He saw the light skin of the hooded figure hanging bare chested from a wire strung up to the trees.

“That’s close enough.” One of the girls called out. “We have your packmate,” she said gesturing toward him with a long stun baton, “or so he says.” Scott moved over in the clearing not getting any closer, but trying to clear his field of view. He keeps trying to scent the air to see it he can figure out who the guy hanging from the cuffs is, but all he smells is what he could only describe as lightning. The torso of the wolf was well muscled and had several wires sticking to pads across his chest.

The lanky hunter in the back grips his crossbow tighter and kept it trained on the back of the dangling werewolf. The other female hunter was holding a stun baton as well as a small silver remote of some kind and when the hooded wolf started growling something she hit the button.

Scott watched in shock as the wolf seemed to bend unnaturally and shake. His wolf asserted itself and he barked loudly in his deep Alpha command, “Stop!” It actually shocked him a little to hear it come out of his own mouth, he shook it off watching their startled faces and added, “please- just, let him down.” He could feel his eyes glowing red and teeth on the verge of descending, he was teetering on losing control.

“Looks like we definitely found the Alpha,” the boy said to the girl with the remote. She looked up at Scott lifting her eyebrow, “So.” Gesturing her hand out palm up waiting for Scott to say something. “Is this your wolf?”

Scott had no idea who the wolf was, never mind the fact as to who his Alpha might be, if he said no the guy was dead. If he lied and told them he was his pack, he could at least get him free and then they could deal with finding the wolf’s actual Alpha later.

“Yes, he’s my pack.” He stepped nervously back and forth feeling almost like a tiger pacing in a cage. “Let him down, I will take responsibility for whatever he does from here on out.” Scott felt something odd like a sixth sense clicking in place. The girl reached up and grabbed the black hood, “You sure you don’t need to see him first? How do you even know who it is?” It was apparent from the way she pulled at the hood without removing it that she was pulling at his hair and Scott felt his teeth drop out as he curled his fingers baring his clawed hands, the word rattled out of his chest filled with rage, “Instinct.”

The boy in the back attempted to whisper, but Scott’s hearing was sharper in this form, “Don’t piss off the Alpha Meg, you know he can probably tear through your kevlar, and none of us are fast enough to get off a shot if he-” “Shut up Andrew!” Meg pulled the black hood off and threw it to the ground. Scott tried not to let the shock on his face show as Ethan’s wide eyes squinted in the new light, duct tape pressed across his mouth. Meg’s eyes narrowed knowingly and her lips drew into a snurl. She whipped out a handgun in a flash and pressed it to the side of Ethan’s temple. “I don’t care how fast you are, you can’t beat a bullet to the skull.”

Scott drew a slow breath trying to calm himself as he pressed his claws into the meat of his palms trying to will the pain to hold his shift at bay.

“You think you can fool us? You think I can’t see right through your games? Stupid filthy dog!” The other girl stepped behind Meg and grabbed her arm pulling gently, She too was trying to whisper, It was a waste of effort. Scott felt like his senses were on overdrive. “He claimed him Meg, whether he was in the pack, he is now, you know we can’t kill him now, just let it go.” She paused and Scott watched Meg teasing at the trigger with her finger, not far enough, but she was seriously considering. The other girl whispered again pointlessly, “You kill him, you better hope Drew gets off a shot, cause that Alpha is coming straight for you.” Meg shook the other girls grip off her arm and turned to frown at Scott, then her frown turned into a huge sparkling smile. She was a sociopath, just like Kate, he could tell that she was going to be trouble.

His heart was pounding in his chest and he could feel the urge to rush forward and tear her throat out. His wolf was howling inside his mind foaming at the mouth for her blood. He was watching her finger flex and press so intently that he didn’t even see the other girl pull out her taser and by the time he noticed her, the prongs were already in his chest, he heard the buzz before he felt it and then everything went black.

* * *

Responding to the mentally unstable individual wouldn’t usually be on Jonathan’s top priority list, but when he checked his cell, there was a message from one of his deputies that the person was Calvin Azimuth.

Jonathan hadn’t spoke to Calvin in years, but knew he was still around town. Last he heard he was squatting in an abandoned building making a meager living making and selling small pottery, several times he had helped Calvin out of vagrancy charges. The owner finally got tired of him trespassing even though the property wasn’t being used and called the cops to force him to leave.

From the looks of the property Calvin had been there for several months maybe even years. He had almost turned the building into a sculpture studio. There were shelves of handpainted plates and small bowls. He even got a second-hand kiln to bake his wares in. It looked like it could have been a lucrative business, if it was managed right. He had several full sized statues, most were covered in cloths, but the few out were very realistic made from a warm brown clay. Calvin was currently screaming at the officers as they attempted to move them out of the room. “Watch what you are doing! You are going to put the whole damn arm off, you move it from the base!”

Calvin walked up to the Sheriff as if he was the hero who was about to prevent all the injustice of the situation from continuing. “John, thank the Gods you are here, they are tossing me out on the street like a vagrant and your officers are going to ruin my sculptures!” The officers looked back at the Sheriff awaiting instructions and Jonathan could do little more than rub his hand against the back of his neck ruffing the hair.

Out of the back of the building a man in a worn badly fitted suit walked in. “Sheriff, thank you for coming by to help out. Mr. Azimuth has been trespassing for an extended point of time. If he refuses to leave I will be forced to press charges on behalf of my client.”

The Sheriff extending one finger and gestured for the lawyer to follow him, “guys, just take a break for minute and don’t touch anything.” Calvin looked delighted at his artwork being out of harms way, at least for a brief moment.

Jonathan stepped back outside into the light. “Gabe, what is going on here? You and I know that Calvin has been here forever and now suddenly it is an emergency to get him kicked out?” Gabe crossed his arms over his chest almost like a petulant child, “Sheriff, I am just doing like the property owner asked. He wanted all the properties vacant, subcontracted to be cleaned and put on the market.” Gabe said the next part like he was reciting lines from a letter, “Said he was ready to move on from this part of his life and find something better.” He walked over toward his car and leaned against the door, “Can you help me out with this loony, please Sheriff, I have over 15 other properties to get ready and most of them have been vacant for years. I have my hands full without having to press charges for trespassing as well.”

Jonathan rang his tongue through his cheek thinking, “Gabe, who does the property belong to if you don’t mind me asking?” Gabe opened the car door, “After the latest will reading, Laura left most of the Hale property to Derek, and a trust in place for Cora. Oddest thing how these Hale kids all keep getting dead, especially after the suspicious fire. Seems like someone has it out for them, or some serious bad karma one. Damn shame too, town was much better off when they had the factories running.”

The Sheriff walked over to the car as Gabe got in closing the door and rolled the window down. “Just give me to the end of the week?” He asked the exhausted lawyer, “He didn’t move in in a day, and there is no way we can get him out in a day either.” Gabe smiled almost like he was relieved at the request, “fine with me, the more of his junk he moves out the less I have to pay someone else to move it. Just make sure he is out as soon as possible.” He started rolling up the window before he even got to the end of the sentence.

As Jonathan walked back in the wide double doorway he was thinking about how surprising it was that Derek and Cora were so well off. Gabe had said more than 15 other properties in Beacon Hills that the Hale family had owned. He remembered, years ago that they had been the managers of the Ironworks but he never knew that they owned it. He was curious what other businesses or properties that the Hales had owned that he didn’t know about.

Calvin met him just inside the doorway, “So?” Jonathan looked up into his wide eyes and gave a weak smile, “You have until the end of the week to move everything out of here.” Calvin’s eyes fell. “Its the best I could do Cal, you know you are not supposed to be here and legally he could take a bulldozer through here to clear it out if he wanted to. At least now you can move your sculpture yourself and store it somewhere safe.

“Come on John, You know I don’t have anywhere else to go.” He slumped down on a stool. The Sheriff eyed the other officers still standing around waiting for instructions. “You guys can head on out. I’ll finish up here.” They all walked out glad to be away from all the screaming and out of the heat.

Jonathan moved along the walkway admiring the sculptures, he pulled the cover back from one and had he not known better, he could have sworn it was a real person. “Cal, why aren’t you selling these? They look like they would sell for hundred if not thousands of dollars.” The comment barely even got Calvin to turn around on his stool. “I wouldn’t even know who to talk to about trying to sell them. Besides, who would want them, I am the only one who understands them.”

The Sheriff moved along to another that was already uncovered. He thought back to before Calvin had lost his wife and son. He had been normal then, happy. Losing someone you loved dearly was something that Jonathan could understand all too well. He didn’t know what he would do it he had lost Stiles as well as Claudia. Maybe he would be the one living in an abandoned building, making friends with inanimate objects and living with his memories of the past.

All of Calvin’s sculptures were nudes, but Jonathan had never seen a sculpture that looked so real. It didn’t seem to have the supports to hold the artwork up. It was like they were standing up on their own. The sculpture in front of him was a surprised woman, her hand pressed to her lips to stifle a scream, eyes wide with shock and her arm attempting to cover her breasts. She had her thigh turned to the side trying to prevent showing off her privates as well, the skin looked so realistic that he could swear she was still wet from stepping out of the shower. Jonathan felt embarrassed looking at the model, almost as if he had walked in on her in the bathroom..

“Come on Cal, I think I know just the person for you to talk to.”

* * *

 

She woke up with a start from her nap and immediately felt relieved that Chuck wasn’t there. The windows were all drawn and she was safe and alone in her bedroom. She wondered what might have woken her, but figured it must have been a bad dream. She had reason enough to have bad dreams.

Winter had always avoided going outside in the sun just to keep from worrying about getting a sunburn, but she was much more strict with herself after figuring out that she was a vampire. When she was moving around the house, which already had shades on all the windows, she was careful not to step into a stray beam of light that slipped through the cracks.

Her Mom had slept most of the day after being up most of the previous night, and it was about the time that her Mom would usually get up and pretend to care about Winter getting something to eat, then typically her Step-father would come home from work and start in on everything that was wrong in the world and how he could fix it all if only everyone would listen to him. She didn’t know why he always came here, he had his own apartment, a little rathole that Winter had only seen once when her mother was ill with the flu and Chuck had offered to watch Winter for her so she could get better. The memories of those three days made Winter’s skin crawl.

Winter hoped beyond all hope that her display of physical strength was enough that he wouldn’t be coming back here ever again. It wasn’t even really hope for herself that she was wishing for. She knew that if it came down to it, she would feel really bad about having to kill Chuck, but she would do it nonetheless.

Winter felt an odd sensation at the thought of killing Chuck, it was almost painful at the tips of her fingers. She glanced down and noticed gleaming white claws growing. They looked thick and sharp and she thought, I didn’t know that vampires had claws, but I can see how they would be useful. As she calmed herself with her curiosity, the claws slowly retracted.

She heard her Mother’s breathing change in the other room and stepped into the kitchen to make her Mom some breakfast. Even though it was dinner time, breakfast always seemed to make her feel better. She had decided that after all this, after everything her mother and she had been through her Mom was going to make sure she got the help that she needed, and their lives were in for some major changes.

“Momma, I’m making some scrambled eggs, you want some sausage links too?” Winter listened as her mom coughed clearing her throat. She heard the bathroom door open and close, pill bottles rattled and the sink ran, then the door opened again,  “Winter, baby, do you know when Chuck left last night? I don’t remember him ever coming back to bed.”

It was hard for Winter to imagine that her mother didn’t know about the things that Chuck did to her late at night after she had gone to bed, but the one time that she had tried to wake her up after she was doped up on pain pills made it a little easier. She was completely out of it, had someone burned the house down around her she wouldn’t have even screamed. Maybe she had known and was too scared of Chuck to do anything about it. Her mother had sported her own share of bruises from the bastard. Maybe the guilt of it all was the reason why she tried to escape from it all with her pills. “I dunno Momma, I think he left pretty early.”

Her mother came around the corner from the hallway dressed in her work clothes. Her eyes only met Winter’s eyes for a second before they averted to the floor. “Just eggs is fine baby.” She turned back to the eggs and scraped the spatula along the edges, “If I told you that I thought Chuck wasn’t ever going to come back, what would you think?” Her mom pulled the chair out at the kitchen table and sank into the seat, “What an odd question, why on earth would you ask something like that?” She pulled her nametag across the table and pinned ‘Amy’ to her chest. The rundown hotel she worked at wouldn’t get her a new name tag, even though the one she had was scratched up and worn.

“I just, well…, last night he said something pretty rude to me, and we got into it. I told him off and he left. If he doesn’t ever come back, would you be mad.”

Tear were glistening just on the edge of falling from Amy’s eyes as she looked at her daugher open mouthed. “No, baby, I wouldn’t be mad. But Winter, you have to understand, a man like Chuck, he doesn’t take no for an answer. When you make him angry and he hurts you, I don’t know … Winter, just don’t make him mad baby.” She pushed the chair out and grabbed the plate Winter fixed for her. “You can apologize later when he comes home. I will be working late tonight, make sure that you have something nice fixed for Chuck to eat when he comes in.” The hopelessness in Amy’s eyes would break a weaker person, or was she already broken. As she watched her mom quickly eating her meal, her eyes averted from Winter’s watchful gaze, Winter wondered how a person recovered from something like what her mother or she had endured. She wasn’t sure someone ever really did.

* * *

The sunlight filtering down through the trees was really scenic and the gentle breeze blowing through the woods was really relaxing until Scott remembered why he was in the middle of the forest laying on his back. He jerked up into a sitting position and checked for Ethan. He was still hanging from the wire, but the hood was back on and the device and all its diodes that had been sticking to his chest was gone.

He looked around quickly and noticed that the white-noise and the negative scent generators were gone as well. He was glad to have his senses working properly again.

It looked like Ethan had been struggling for awhile while hanging there and not forgetting the situation that Deaton had been in before, gasping for breath after his arms tired out, Scott jumped up running over to get him down. Before cutting the wire, he pulled off the hood and Ethan’s wild eyes calmed as soon as he saw it was Scott. Scott wrinkled his nose at the duct tape over his mouth and followed the ‘quick and painful is better than slow and painful’ rule. He ripped the tape off and Ethan cursed, “Fuck!” He shook his head about squeezing his eyes closed, then opened them and looked at Scott dead serious, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to trick you, but they were going to kill me and I didn’t see any other way out of it.” Scott reared his head back in disbelief, “Really, that is what you are worried about? Dude, they almost put a bullet in your head and you are worried about tricking me?” Scott whipped his claws out, “Heads up.” and sliced through the wire like it was nothing.

Ethan’s feet hit the ground, then his knees and then Scott grabbed ahold of him before his whole body hit the ground. “Are you alright? What is up with you?” He rolled Ethan over and lay him face up in the dried leaves. “The current they had running through me, it was awful. I feel like I have been beaten, every freaking muscle in my body was burning like all the healing after your attack was reversed.”

That struck a nerve and Scott visually winced. Ethan looked away, “You don’t understand, you claimed me, that makes me your pack. I wanted in, you claimed me, its that simple. Only way out is if I kill you and take your spark, you kill me, or if I find another pack and abandon this one. Or,” Ethan looked back into Scott’s eyes, “you can abandon me, but that doesn’t go well. It pretty much pushes a wolf off the edge. Immediate Omega status, and causes mental instability, I’ve only seen it once.” The panicked look on Ethan’s face made it seem like he thought Scott was capable of just kicking someone out of his pack and letting them go insane.

Ethan’s gaze fell just over Scott’s shoulder, his vision losing focus like he was remembering something. The memory of their first Alpha kicking Amber out of the pack was one of the frightening things that kept Ethan and Aiden so subservient in their original pack. She was found half starved and foaming at the mouth. One of the Alpha’s lieutenants killed her to take her out of her misery, but not before she was paraded through the pack on a chain showing everyone what would happen if they didn’t obey the Alpha. She was gone, nothing of her human side remained, she didn’t even recognize her own brother.

Scott reached down clapping Ethan’s shoulder and grabbed his hand pulling him up into a sitting position. “It is okay man. You don’t have to worry. It wasn’t really you that I was worried about anyway, it was your brother. He is too hot headed and impulsive. Had I known it was that simple and that you guys were in the position you were I would have offered sooner. I..” He sat down next to Ethan in the leaves, “I didn’t realize that you both were Omega. What happened?”

Ethan looked like the color was coming back in his face, “It was inevitable after Deucalion left that we would fall without his leadership. An Alpha without a pack doesn’t stay an Alpha for long. You have to have wolves that are loyal to you for the spark to continue. It kind of works both ways, the pack needs the Alpha, but the the Alpha also needs the pack.”

Scott glanced around making sure that the two of them were alone, “But, you were both Alphas, couldn’t one of you have just claimed the other?”

Ethan stretched his neck and shoulders as the feeling started to come back into his tingling arms, “Normally yes, but Aiden and I are sort of a special case. We were merged together when we took our Alpha’s spark, so in the simplest way of explaining, we were both half an Alpha. And then after all the damage we took fighting you, it kind of sped up the process of falling once Deucalion had left.”

It all made sense in Scott’s head, but he was still worried about Aiden and if he trusted him enough to invite him to the pack. Ethan could sense Scott’s unease thinking about Aiden, he licked his lips and Scott muttered before he could speak, “About Aiden..” Ethan interrupted, “They will hunt him down and kill him if they find out.” Scott looked worried, “I need to know that I can trust you both before I will be comfortable-” “Yeah, I know, believe me, I get it. Sometimes I have a hard time dealing with him too. But you do have a bit more control over wolves in your pack that ones that are running around Omega.”

He frowned tilting his head a little and narrowed his eyes. He looked up at Scott and shrugged, “Though not as much control as you might like.” He smiled a mischievous grin, “I can teach you about giving an Alpha command. That way when you tell your wolves to do something, they must obey. You actually had a good start earlier, but humans don’t take well to commands.”

Scott copied Ethan’s angle and listened, It sounded like someone was running toward them, several someone’s.

Isaac bounded through the trees followed by Jason and then Sam, they came to a stop as soon as they saw Scott and Ethan sitting alone. Isaac looked really relieved and then embarrassed, “I know you said to check on Sam and stay at the house, but we all got this seriously bad vibe all at the same time. I was just worried that something happened to you.”

Isaac’s eyes went from Scott to Ethan and then back to Scott, “So…. did... something happen to you?” Sam looked annoyed to be out in the woods and was leaning against one of the trees with arm folded, “Yeah, what the hell was with the voodoo doll feeling?”

Ethan piped up before Scott could even reply, “Anytime the Alpha is in great pain, the bond between the pack members will alert us.” Isaac stepped forward a few steps, “Scott did he just say us, like US, us... he is a member of our pack? US?” Scott looked over at Ethan and then slowly turned back to Isaac and swallowed before lifting his eyebrows, “Yes?”

Scott could tell by the look on Isaac’s face that it would be something he would have to talk about later. After being abducted by the Alpha pack and being present for all their activities, he would be a lot less likely to trust them.

Ethan pulled out his cell, “I was supposed to meet Danny this morning, he is probably wondering where I am, but..” He pressed the buttons on his phone harder and waited. “Pretty sure the shock fried my phone.” He pulled off the back and sure enough the battery was swollen and blackened near the charge ports. Scott quickly pulled out his phone and checked it but it came on without issue. He looked relieved and handed his phone over to Ethan, “Here, you can use,” he snatched the phone back from Ethan, “shit, is that the time??”

He looked at the other three with wide eyes. Jason snapped back, “Yeah, why the hell do you think we came looking for you.” He moved forward and looked like he was still on edge from the whole thing. He reached out to help Scott up off the ground and leaned into him for a quick bro hug. “They were at my house for over an hour before we decided to come looking for you,” Sam spoke up. “About half an hour after the voodoo shit happened. I’d say they were about as reserved as could be expected.” She walked forward and bumped her shoulder into him. “Glad you are ok.” Scott watched Isaac shuffling his feet about in the leaves like he wanted to come forward and brush against Scott too, but Scott could tell he was pissed about Ethan.

Scott tossed the phone back to Ethan, “How long was I out?” Ethan turned the phone over in his hand and started dialing, “Honestly not sure, felt like forever. After they put the hood back on me and Meg told me to be a good dog or she would- Hey, I am so sorry about this morning, it is a long story but,” He looked like he didn’t want to tell Danny what really happened, but you could tell he was thinking about lying. “I was kinda tied up and my phone is kind of fried.”

The werewolves could hear Danny’s voice on the other end of the phone, it was distorted and tinny but clear as a bell, “Go ahead Rose, I’ll be there in a minute,” he paused a minute and huffed, ‘Ethan James Carver, don’t try to sugar coat shit. What really happened, and don’t lie to me, it will piss me off.”

Ethan looked like he has been slapped, “I, ummm, I’m sorry, I didn’t want you to worry about me.” “Spit it out Ethan.” “I got picked up by some out of town hunters, they roughed me up and questioned me. They were going to..” He looked up to Scott, “Scott came and claimed me as his pack member or I wouldn’t be talking to you.”

The other end of the phone was quiet, “Danny, are you still-” “Yeah. I, Ethan, I …. I’m tied up right now but, as soon as I drop Rose off I will be right over. I’m so, I’m sorry I didn’t think anything like that would happen-” “Danny, I’m fine, really. Really, don’t worry about me, and don’t cut your day short on account of me.”

The four wolves looked uncomfortable like they were sitting in on an awkward situation. Scott interrupted the conversation, “You guys head back to the car, we’ll meet you there.” Isaac finally stepped up behind Scott and reached out with a fist to push his shoulder before he and the other two wolves took off toward the car. It was strange noticing all the touching, he never seemed to notice it happen with Derek, but then maybe it had went on in private like they were now, alone in a forest clearing.

He looked down to Ethan who was still listening to Danny assuring him that he would be over to see him tonight and check him over thoroughly, “You think you are up to walking? I have got to get home, I have a family dinner scheduled for tonight and my Mom will kill me if I am late.”

Scott reached his hand out and Ethan reached up to take it but was still talking on the phone. “Danny I promise, everything is going to be fine. No, have dinner with Rose, it is okay. I’m serious. It actually worked out for the best. Scott accepted me in his pack and agreed to talk about it with Aiden. Well talk about it later.” Ethan looked like a newborn deer trying to get its legs, Scott grabbed him once but he steadied himself quickly.

As they walked toward the car Scott stayed close. “I- I’ll see you later tonight. Okay? Okay, bye.” Ethan handed the phone back to Scott, “Thanks for letting me use your phone. Danny, I just wanted to make sure he knew I didn’t forget about him this morning.” Scott shoved the phone in his pocket, “Don’t worry about it. So, Mom was expecting Stiles so she made plenty to eat, if you feel up to it you can join us for dinner.”

Ethan stopped leaning against a tree to catch his breath, he looked back over his shoulder to look Scott in the eye. “Yeah, I’d like that.” They started walking and Scott grabbed Ethan by the arm to steady him, “So, not to eavesdrop, but your heart just about stopped back there when you stopped yourself from telling Danny ‘I love you’, are you guys not quite there yet?” Ethan’s heart almost stopped again, “It was that obvious? Do you think that Danny noticed?”

Scott pulled Ethan to a stop, “Not unless he has werewolf hearing. But then, I don’t know how observant Danny is either… I don’t know him that well.” Ethan turned and started walking toward the car again. It was quiet for several steps, then Ethan broke the silence, “I think I’m there, but I’m scared that Danny isn’t, I don’t want to mess things up, I’m already working on my second chance.”

Ethan turned back around, “You mind if I call Aiden, I am sure he is wondering where I am.” Scott pulled the phone out and tossed it back to Ethan, “I think I am going to have to start a family plan for everyone in the pack. Sam needs a phone too.” Ethan smiled and started dialing.

* * *

Melissa had been distracted all day worrying about the family dinner night, she was really just going through the motions of her day, doing her rounds and checking on the patients, filling out paperwork. It was like she was on autopilot.

Hannah called her again as she was just starting her shift her and reminded her about the job she needed done and said not to forget to tell Isaac that if he had any friends that might need some extra money that she wanted it done as quickly as possible. Melissa smiled and replied as brightly as possible that she wouldn’t forget, thinking that she didn’t think a reminder was really needed, it wasn’t like she was a child. Over the years working at the hospital she had only had a few interactions with Hannah who always seemed to be working opposite shifts, and it wasn’t that she didn’t like Hannah, but something about her always made Melissa feel odd.

Melissa was walking down the hall to the sleeper wing as she checked the time on her cell and checked her message as she ran over all the food she had prepared yesterday and everything she still needed to cook after she got off. The hospital still didn’t want to move the sleepers into individual rooms until the CDC felt more secure about the situation, so they were still in the same room, the rune carved into the wood of the door had been filled in, but still showed. She always kept her eyes peeled for any suspicious people walking in the hallways, and made a habit of having her phone out so she could call John and or take a quick pic.

Today the hallway was clear and she went about her usual daily tasks, they were all sleeping peacefully, the wolfsbane seemed to stay fresh in its vase of water. Melissa felt odd about refilling the water in a vase full of what would be a poison to her son, but she didn’t want the plant that Mr. Pate had left for the lady to die. She filled the cup up at the sink and stepped over to the vase being careful not to touch the plant so she didn’t carry any of the toxin home with her.

About the time she angled the cup just right to pour the water in the vase, one of the alarms on the heart monitor. She spilled the water all over the table and dropped the cup into the floor. A voice came over the speakerphone, “Melissa can you check the connection on Mrs. Bryant?” Melissa was already checking the wires, “Get someone in here, she’s flatlined!”

* * *

Hannah was just pulling the bookshelf back in place over the secret door to the small room she kept her magical items in, because if you own a huge house and have a secret magic you have to keep hidden away from the world and you don’t hide it behind a bookshelf in the library, you are spending your money wrong.

She willed the lock in place on the other side of the bookcase, it was designed so that only a caster could open it, or a person with telekinesis, but lets be serious, those don’t exist.

About the time she was going to go change to head to the airport and pick up Rachel the front door opened and a voice called out, “Mom, I’m home.” Only someone of the West bloodline could enter the house uninvited, so she wasn’t worried, but she glanced around quickly to make sure any items hadn’t been left out for Rachel to run across.

“Rachel, honey, drop your stuff in your room and meet me in the kitchen, I made you a surprise.” Hannah hoped that it would buy her some time, she had forgotten to put one of her books away. Not that it was that big of a deal, the cover was pretty inconspicuous and the book was bound shut with magic. If anyone opened it without first unbinding, the pages looked blank. Which was good because around the corner stepped Rachel.

She had the same red-orange hair as her mother, but her’s was long and sleek, pulled back into a ponytail. “Rachel, I thought I was supposed to pick you up at the airport dear?” She pulled her daughter into a tight embrace, “Your hair is getting so long, I thought you had said you were going to cut it all off? Something about how much work it was.”

Rachel pulled back from the hug, “Slow down Mom, one question at a time.” She walked over and sat at the table next to the spellbook and brushed her fingers across the smooth surface of the table, “Oh, what a long flight. I was able to get an earlier flight for cheaper because the other flight was overbooked, but I didn’t have time to change my bags, so the service is just going to drop them here at the house.”

She ran her fingers across the spine of the spell book and ran her fingers through her ponytail. Hannah could sense the dormant magic stirring in Rachel as she mindlessly toyed with the book’s front cover. Hannah noticed Rachel’s finger unconsciously tracing the rune for unsealing the book, “And, well, I was all ready to cut my hair off, I had made the appointment and everything and then the very day before I -” “Dear, lets go in the kitchen, I made you some of your favorite cookies.” She motioned with her hands for Rachel to follow and backed into the hallway hoping that her apprehension didn’t show on her face.

Rachel tilted her head back looking like she was going to argue that she wanted to rest her feet, but she sighed and popped up out of the seat, unfortunately still holding the book. Hannah’s eyes went from the book to Rachel’s face, and Rachel was not paying attention to her Mother. “This really cute guy with the bluest eyes at the coffee shop brushed a curl out of my face and told me how much he liked it.” She was still carrying the book as she walked toward the hall and Hannah could feel the dread building in her gut. “So I decided to keep it a little longer, I got the ends trimmed, but I haven’t even seen him again since the other week,” Rachel stepped over with a little spin to slide the book back on the bookshelf.

I looked like Rachel had been in a bit of a trance for a moment and came out of it after sitting the book down. She shook her head as if trying to shake off water, “You made sugar cookies from scratch? Mom, that is so sweet.”

Rachel continued toward the kitchen and Hannah hung back a minute eyeing the book on the shelf, she was going to have to be much more careful from now on. Rachel had turned 16 in January, and her magic was awake, but just as long as she wasn’t trained, she hopefully wouldn’t have any idea about any of it.  

This was going to be a difficult endeavor trying to sort out Claudia’s mess without Rachel finding anything out. She stepped over to the bookshelf and quickly rebound the book just in case Rachel came back to look at it. She would put it away in the hidden room later when Rachel had forgotten about it.

She heard Rachel gasp from the other room, “Pink Sparkles! Oh Mom! I love them.” Hannah took off toward the kitchen. Alan was going to owe her asking this of her while Rachel was in the house. He was going to owe her big time.

* * *

Stiles has been at his research for a few hours, and it was like pulling teeth. It felt like before when he had been diagnosed with ADD, because the whole time he was reading online he kept getting interrupted by Daz trying to tell him something. It was always something interesting that he ended up also researching and getting distracted from his original purpose. It was stressful when he noticed and wished that he had his Adderall, which Daz quickly informed him wouldn’t work.

Daz kept pressuring him to practice his magic, small things were fine, but he needed to keep up the work as long as possible to build up his strength. So, while he was researching Danny’s hacker friend, and looking up anything he could find about blood magic (not much) or spoken magic, which was really super simply explained but was hard to do, he also was flipping through the channels on the TV without touching the remote.

He finally made a connection he had originally disregarded because Danny had said the person was a man. But when he didn’t find any other options he backtracked to the first lead and everything lined up.

Tabitha Cooper was a research scientist at the college working on projects involving drugs to stimulate the regrowth of nerve tissue. She also taught several classes in computer technology and had written hundreds of papers on various topics. Stiles got distracted reading several and bookmarked several to read later. She was not only a genius but well off as well.

She was from a very well off family and probably didn’t even need to work. In college she had gotten several offenses on her record from trespassing and disorderly conduct for activist demonstrations, some minor assault charges, and several counts of computer hacking. Most of her activist days were over after a suspicious car accident. Four people in the car and only Tabitha and Deucalion survived. The officials were amazed at the man’s lack of injuries but when the darling girl from the wealthy family was hurt, that was the story with more interest.

Stiles found a recent picture of her and figured out why she was doing neurology research, and also why she might want Deucalion. Spinal cord damage from the accident had left her paralyzed from the neck down. Her research had paid off by returning mobility to her right arm and limited mobility to her left, but the funding was cut due to her questionable self experimentation.

The bite would heal her spine, but she needed an Alpha to do it, and Deucalion and her had history together. Now the only problem was letting Danny know without tipping off Tabitha that he knew. Only way he knew how to do that was to meet in person, and Stiles wasn’t going anywhere until tomorrow.

Daz seemed to get excited when Stiles pushed his laptop and the hospital table away from him like he was finished. ‘You haven’t been changing the channels, are you already tired?’ The channels started flipping again, “No, I was just distracted, I have a lot on my mind.” ‘Yes, I know, I know all your thoughts.’ Stiles rubbed the heels of his hands into his eyes, “Yeah, that in itself is kind of creepy,” he said gruffly. ‘Speak softer or think, the people in the hallway can hear you.’

Stiles looked toward the door, he always forgot that he was talking out loud and no one else could see Daz. He needed to be careful or they would put him in a insane asylum. Maybe he actually belonged in one. He spoke a little quieter, but thinking his thoughts to Daz just felt odd to him. “I could be talking on the phone for all they know.” ‘Yes, and you know you aren’t crazy. The nurse noticed the plant was doing well without water. You made that happen.’

He noticed the plant was still out of water, but it seemed to be doing just fine. He scrunched up his eyebrows and looked at the plant confused, ‘The plant is still drawing on your magic without you having to put forth the effort to sustain it. Often living things form somewhat permanent attachments with casters. Should the other living thing become attached, energy can flow both ways.’ Stiles leaned over and poured some of his water into the vase. He actually felt a tingle of chill run down his spine like he was wet with chilled water. ‘Should the flower be rooted and growing strong, it would provide little energy to you, but a giant tree or another person would.’

Stiles pulled out his phone and checked for any messages. He figured that he Scott was probably busy with all his new responsibilities, and if he was honest he would admit that he didn’t want to have to look him in the eye and keep his secret, but it would be nice to hear from him. He hadn’t seen him since he woke up from the coma.

‘Scott was here with you while you were asleep.’ Stiles looked up at Daz confused. “What?” ‘You were thinking about Scott and how you missed him. He was here, I wanted you to know that he was not ignoring you. In fact he actually slept next to you in bed one night.’ Stiles pulled up the photos on his phone scrolling through all the stupid pictures that he had Scott had taken together over the last few months. He really was like a brother to him, and now he actually was his brother and couldn’t even tell him about it.

He scrolled across the one photo he had of Derek smiling. He paused on it for a moment longer than he intended. Daz moved closer to the bed, ‘You know, I think I know a way we might be able to get Derek and Cora back, that is, once we get your strength up, and we will need some of their blood.’ Stiles looked up from the phone at the passive mask Daz wore, he could never really tell if he was excited but there seemed to be a gleam in his lifeless black eyes. ‘It is a type of summoning spell, to bring beings from another realm.’ He walked over to brush his fingers against the flowers in the vase, ‘but you will have to be much better than this’ and gestured at the TV, ‘and this.’

Stiles thought about the tee shirt that Derek had left in his room after he got him to change in front of Danny. He had tossed it in his closet intending to hide it from his Dad, but forgot to ever wash it. ‘Good, but what about Cora, we will need some of her blood too.’ Stiles was racking his brain trying to think of anyway he could get a sample of Cora’s blood. Any place outside would be washed away by now, but the inside of the bank vault might still have traces of blood, it was never cleaned up after the fight.

‘Good, it is settled then, you will work harder at learning and we will see about getting the two of them back.’

Daz pulled a piece of white paper from Stiles’ backpack and carried it to the foot of the bed. ‘We are going to work on focusing your energy and control.’ He held the paper up in front of his chest. ‘I want you to burn a perfect circle into the paper.’

* * *

Melissa was just putting her key in the front door when Jason’s minivan pulled up in the driveway and she watched as Scott and Isaac, then Jason, Sam and Ethan came piling out of the minivan. If she wasn’t so tired she might laugh at the realization that they looked like clowns getting out of the small van. Ethan was moving slowly and she watched as Scott actually went back to speak to him before Ethan waved him on. Scott ran up the steps of the porch and smiled brightly at her.

“I take it you want all of them to stay for dinner?” She said flatly. Scott’s smile lost some of it’s luster and his eyes were kind of hopeful, “Stiles is still in the hospital and I’d just feel better if I had the pack here with me.” Melissa twisted the knob and shoved the door in, “You can have as many people here as you want, you still aren’t getting out of this.” She turned to face the rest of the group, “And if you all are eating then you are helping cook AND clean up.” All the wolves filed past her into the house and she added, “And wash your hands first.”

Melissa grabbed Scott and pulled him back from the doorway, “What is with Aiden, or Ethan, why is he limping?” Out of the kitchen came a reply, “I’ll be fine Mrs. McCall.” She looked back at Scott and he smiled, “Werewolf hearing.” He paused a second then followed, “He got a little roughed up by some new hunters that are in town, I really need to talk to Chris and Allison about them and see what is up, but I have no plans of missing dinner.”

“Is..” Melissa didn’t know how to phrase the question and didn’t want to come off as being rude, she tipped her head toward the house and thumbed her hand, “in your, in the..” “Yeah, Ethan is part of the pack, I am going to have to talk to Aiden about joining too or the hunters will find him and kill him. Being an Omega is dangerous for a wolf.” Melissa blinked once slowly her mouth dropping open, “I am not even going to pretend to understand everything about this, but it seems like you are getting a little carried away. You went from having just you-” “And Stiles.” “Okay, you and Stiles to five, soon to be six wolves in your pack. I don’t know if that is good or not, but I am just worried Scott.”

Melissa rubbed at her temples closing her eyes and Scott knew something was off, “What else is going on?” Melissa’s eyes popped open and her hands stopped massaging tiny circles into her temples. “You know I don’t like when you do that.” She dropped her hands to cross them over her chest, “We... we lost someone at the hospital today while I was doing my rounds. It was one of the sleepers. She just flatlined and we couldn’t revive her. There was nothing we could do. I don’t know what any of it means, but I called Alan and obviously John to let them know.”

Scott sensed a wave of guilt and worry and Melissa looked to the floor like she knew Scott could probably tell how she was feeling. Scott thought best not to press the issue any further, it was obviously something she didn’t want to talk about, “Let’s get dinner started.”

* * *

The whole energy level changed after his phone call with Ethan and Rose actually suggested that they cut the day short. She asked if Danny didn’t mind dropping her off at her apartment so she didn’t have to ride the bus back from the coffee shop, and Danny agreed. He didn’t want to wait until later to see Ethan, he wanted to make sure that he was okay now.

The car was completely quiet as they rode along the way and Rose leaned forward breaking the silence, “You mind if I turn on the radio?” He realized the he hadn’t said anything for several minutes and thought it was very rude of him. “Yeah, I’m sorry about spacing out, I just-” “No, I get it, when you love someone and you find out they are in an accident, it really makes you think about things.” Danny had told Rose that Ethan was in a car wreck, but he wasn’t hurt. Hearing the words come out of her mouth really put a perspective on things. ‘When you love someone’ ran over in his mind as Rose tuned the radio to a clear station with Adele singing. Did Danny love him? He certainly had made more of a connection with Ethan than he ever had with anyone else.

“It’s really not fair, all these singers making money off every time they suffer a through a break-up and meanwhile I get nothing but an extra five pounds from eating icecream alone in my apartment.” Rose flipped the station to something a little more upbeat. “It’s the one just up on the left.”

Danny pulled into the parking lot of the apartment complex, “You know, this is the same complex that Allison and Ethan live in.” He glanced over at Rose who smiled and oddly fake smile, “Small world huh?”

He pulls into a space and hops out to walk around and open the door for Rose. She smiles, “You didn’t have to do that.” She takes his hand and steps out of his car, “I guess they are wrong, chivalry’s not dead, it’s just gay.” Rose turns back to the car and grabs her bag and turns back to Danny, “I had a great time today, we should do it again. You have my number so just give me a call.” She leaned in and pulled Danny into a warm hug pulling his head into her shoulder with a hand on the back of his neck. “I will, and you will have to meet Ethan sometime. Who knows, maybe we can find someone for you in my group of friends.”

Danny felt the oddest tingle like a cold chill on the back of his neck and Rose let him go from the embrace. “Go, check on your boyfriend. I have an evening planned with a carton of rocky road.”

As she turned to walk toward the apartments Danny’s phone went off in his pocket, thinking that Rose was being silly and texting as soon as she got in the building, he pulled the phone out of his pants with a laugh. But it wasn’t Rose.

Stiles to Danny: Hope you didn’t forget that you promised to pick me up from the hospital babe, my Dad is on duty and can’t drive me home. ;-) Pretty sure I will be released by 8am, then we can talk. See you then? I miss you!

Danny looked at the text twice. He read over it again and checked that it really was from Stiles. Why was Stiles calling him babe? And he sure as hell didn’t remember promising to pick him up. He thought about replying that Stiles must have sent it to the wrong person, but wondered who Stiles’ ‘babe’ was. Danny remembered the last thing that he talked to Stiles about. That would certainly explain the cryptic text. He started typing a reply and then changed it trying to get the phrasing right.

Danny to Stiles: You know I wouldn’t forget our little talk, honey. Hope the doctor’s didn’t hack anything important off? ;-) I’ll be there at 8. XOXO

It felt so silly sending messages to Stiles like this. I mean really, ‘honey’? He would never in a million years admit that he might have had a tiny crush on Stiles freshman year, but Stiles had been pretty obviously head over heels with Lydia, and Danny wasn’t the type to long for someone.

Stiles on the other hand had longing down to an art form. Danny laughed to himself before starting up the car, first Lydia who never ever showed Stiles the time of day, and now Derek, pretty sure that Derek wasn’t playing for that team. The texts that Stiles sent Derek were priceless though, he wished he was evil enough to save a copy of them for blackmail.

Danny stopped laughing when he looked up at the apartment building and noticed a security camera pointed at the parking lot right into his vehicle. He thought about the rest of his day and all the other places that the asshole could have been just watching him. He pulled his phone back up and plastered a huge smile back on his face. He had better play the part well if he was going to play it.

Danny to Stiles: I’ll stop and pick you up some curly fries, I know they are your favorite. See you around 8 boo.

* * *

Melissa looks around the kitchen, giant pot of spaghetti was drained and oiled slightly so it didn’t stick together, the sauce was on low, her third pan of garlic bread was toasting in the oven, a huge bowl of salad was ready to be served and the teenagers were all sitting in the living room watching some reality show while waiting on Seth to show up.

He was late, which shouldn’t surprise her, he was late to everything. The man would probably be late to his own funeral. After she had went through all this effort of getting Scott to agree and cooking and everything, she thought the least he could do was show up on time. But no, that too must have been too much to ask.

The kids were all sitting around watching TV and she remembered that she hadn’t had a chance to tell Isaac about Hannah wanting to hire him. She stepped into the living room and everyone looked up from the TV, “Sorry, no, he isn’t here yet.” They looked back to the TV and she added looking at Scott, “I promise 10 more minutes and we can start without him. Isaac, a coworker of mine at the hospital has a project she could use your help with it you are still interested. And before you say yes, you should know you don’t have to do any of this.” He smiled, “No, it’s fine, Mrs. McCall, I really like having something to do, especially when Scott is at work.”

Melissa crinkled her nose,  “I’ve told you, you can call me Melissa, and Hannah said that it was a big attic full of boxes and some furniture, so if you know anyone that might need a little extra cash, you can bring them along with you. She said she wants the attic cleaned out as soon as possible.” With that Melissa went back in the kitchen to pull the garlic bread out of the oven.

Scott leaned over to Isaac, “Why don’t you see if Stiles wants to help, maybe you can figure out what is up with him lately.” Isaac dropped an eyebrow in confusion, “What do you mean?” “I dunno really, not something I can put a finger on, just, it feels like he has been avoiding me. I don’t know how he feels about the night of the full moon.” Isaac sensed something deeper there, but wasn’t sure he should press, “Sure Scott, I’ll ask him and see.”

About that time the doorbell rang and Melissa walked over to open it to Seth standing there in a nice dark blue blazer with some wine. He raised the bottle, “I figured that you could use this.” Melissa smiled and snatched the bottle from him, “You are supposed to chill white wine before serving it, and supposed to serve red wine with tomato based sauces, but, the fact that you are actually here and only about 30 minutes late, I guess I shouldn’t complain much.” She walked back in toward the kitchen, “come on guys, grab a plate.”

Seth stepped into the kitchen and saw all the kids, “I thought it was just going to be the three of us and possibly Stiles?” Melissa looked up from the salad she was tossing in Italian dressing, “I said he was going to have friends over, I never said anything about Stiles. And this is Isaac,” she pointed to the tall curly haired boy who was handing plates to all the other teens, “He is actually staying here for the time being, since he is almost 18 and doing well in school the social worker okayed a temporary foster application.” Isaac smiled a half hearted smile and handed Seth a plate.

“Scott said you work for the FBI, that sounds like a cool job.” Isaac was trying to break the ice. Meanwhile the table was starting to fill up with teenagers and their plates full of food. Scott noticed Ethan counting chairs and started to get up from the table. “Where are you going?” Scott said before he could get completely out of his seat. “I uh, there isn’t enough room for everyone, I was going to sit in the livingroom.”

Scott stepped into the other room and pulled in a stool that that was really too short to sit on at the table, “There is plenty of room,” He sat the stool down and Jason sat in it. Oddly enough he still looked almost normal with his height. Ethan was already munching on his salad when Jason looked over at him and widened his eyes. Ethan stopped chewing and looked back at Jason, “What?” “Nothing, I just thought we should wait for everyone to get seated.” Melissa waved his comment off, “No, go on and dig in.” Ethan gave Jason a ‘so there’ look and Sam sat down next to Ethan rather loudly slapping her plate on the table.

Seth was dipping spaghetti sauce from the pan onto his noodles as he attempted his first conversation with Scott, “So, introduce me to your friends. Who is everyone?” Melissa was pretty sure she heard Scott mutter something about ‘don’t act like you care’ but then he went into the introductions. “You met Isaac, this is Jason Fisher,” Jason looked up from his pasta with a noodle still dangling from his mouth and nodded his head, “Samantha Addam,” she didn’t look up from her food and made a air pistol with her right hand and pointed it at Seth. “And the one with sauce all over his chin is Ethan Carver.”

Seth sat down at the head of the table and Scott looked over at Melissa who was still serving up salad to anyone that hadn’t got any. She looked at him sternly as if to say, ‘don’t make a scene.’

Scott grabbed his plate and sat at the far end of the table leaving the seat next to his father open for Melissa to sit at. As far as he was concerned, she was as much to blame for this farce of a dinner as his Dad was. “So, I hear that you are in town looking for a serial killer?” Scott blurted out and Melissa dropped the tongs in the floor. “Scott,” she blurted out before chasing after the utensil. Seth had a sour look on his face, “That isn’t something to be discussed at the dinner table.” “Oh?” Scott questioned, his tone of impertinence was obvious, “I would think it was something pretty important, people need to know to keep alert and keep their families safe.”

“Scott, we have things under control. There is no reason for the public to be alerted.” He looked around the room to all the teens sitting around the table. “None of you have anything to worry about. We are going to catch him.” Seth can see that Scott isn’t going to make this easy, he remembers potty training, Scott was always stubborn. He decides to try to change the subject, “So how do all of you know Scott, do you all go to the same school.”

As an FBI agent he felt like he just started interrogating them all from the look on their faces. None of them volunteered to go first, so he looked to Scott’s right and lifted his eyebrows, “Jason, how did you and my son become friends?” Jason quickly shoveled a mouthful of pasta into his mouth and elbowed Scott mumbling. Scott took the hint, “We just kind of, well literally ran into each other out running.” Seth smiled, “You do cross country running? I was in cross country in High School too.”

Scott rolled his eyes and looked back to his pasta, Seth continued looking back to Jason, “So you don’t go to school with Scott?” Jason had swallowed and looked nervously to Scott then back to Seth, “No sir, I’m actually done with school. I was homeschooled and without all the summer breaks and self pacing, it was easy to finish early.”

Melissa interrupted, “So, have you made plans for college yet?” Scott looked up at his Mom like he couldn’t believe she was joining in on the interrogation. Jason looked like he had been kicked, “I, umm, no. My parents never planned for me to,” He looked over at Scott like he was hoping he would have something to explain, but Scott was at a loss and shook his head slightly, “they never planned for me to go to college. Mom thought it was an expense that would have been wasted.”

Everyone at the table looked confused. “I have muscular dystrophy and the life expectancy is typically late teens to early thirties, so it would be a waste to rack up all those bills for nothing.” He went back to his pasta and Scott’s mouth was drawn into a tight line. “Sam used to go to my school before she was diagnosed with cancer, maybe you would like to ask her about losing her hair or throwing up from the chemo, perhaps grill Isaac about his abusive relationship with his late father??”

Melissa stood up from the table, “Who wants seconds?” Ethan hopped up from the table too, “I’ll help you.” He said quickly moving over to the stove. Seth looked like he had a mouthful of lemon. He looked over to Jason who met his eye with a very cautious look. “I’m sorry, I didn’t realize.” Jason sat his garlic bread down on the plate quickly and grabbed Scott’s arm under the table. He looked like he was about to start yelling, Jason shrugged, “Don’t worry about it, I am participating in an experimental drug trial. It seems to be working really well.”

Scott pulled his arm back and shoved a mouthful of noodles into his mouth chewing while looking at the table. “Maybe my parents will have a reason to come up with some college funds after all.” He smiled softly hoping Seth wouldn’t feel so bad. “I have actually been considering applying for several grants. I don’t want to tell my parents about the improvements and end up jinxing things.”

Melissa passed the garlic bread around the table, “Scott your father is just trying to get to know your friends.” Scott mumbled something under his breath about how it was a little late. Sam spoke before Seth could really hear what Scott was saying, “And I am in remission, so please don’t tiptoe around my feelings. I have to retake Sophomore year, you can feel bad for me for that if you want.” She pointed with her fork at Seth, “The real one you should feel sorry for should be Scott for having to put up with these guys. Useless, the lot of them.”

Seth looked back to Scott who eyed him with pretty veiled distain. Scott coughed into his napkin, “I am still curious about your serial killer, I would be nice to know what everyone should be expecting from him, or maybe a her?”

Seth sat his fork down on his plate with a clank, “I told you Scott, we have everything under control. Now drop it.” Scott was looking down at the table and Jason could sense the anger boiling off of him. He was obviously not reacting well to being told what to do, Jason tried pushing his knee into Scott’s under the table. “No, I don’t think I will drop it. Someone in this house has to protect MY family-” “Scott,” Melissa tried to interrupt and Isaac looked across the table to Scott’s eyes that were starting to glow red. Luckily Scott wasn’t making eye contact with his father. “Since you haven’t been around, I guess that leaves things up to me!”

Isaac jumped up from the table knocking his plate off into the floor and distracting Seth. Melissa and Isaac met in the floor both trying to pick up the empty plate and grab the utensils, Isaac whispered to Melissa and all the other wolves in the room, “Scott’s eyes, we need to get him calmed down or out of the room.”

Seth went to turn back to Scott and Jason had stood up between the two of them. He had his hands out palms facing Seth, “Let’s all just keep things as calm as possible, yeah?” Seth looked around Jason to Scott who was still sitting in his chair with his hands under the table looking calm and smug. Now he was pissed, but what he saw couldn’t be farther from the truth.

Scott was holding onto the ledge under the table with a clawed grip, he could feel the wolf inside pacing, just beneath the surface, ready to break out. Seth yelled and flung his hands out knocking a glass off the table, “Scott, that is enough, I may not live here, but I am still your father, and you WILL show me some respect.” As the glass hit the floor and broke, Seth happened to glance over to Isaac’s face and was struck by the look of terror on his face. He could have been mistaken but he swore he heard someone growling, but the chairs were scooting out as everyone was getting up from the table and he was probably hearing things.

His anger deflated like a balloon at the sight of Isaac and Melissa stepped between Seth and Isaac as Sam grabbed Isaac by the arm forcing him to look at her. Melissa cleared her throat, “Scott, can you take Isaac upstairs please?” Sam pulled Isaac toward the stairs and Jason seemed to be pushing at Scott’s shoulders to get him out of the chair, but Seth couldn’t look away from the disappointment in Melissa’s eyes.

The boys were up the stairs in seconds and Seth looked around to see only Ethan settling back into his chair and Jason and Sam standing awkwardly at the foot of the stairs. Melissa took the offensive, “Guys, I think we need to call it a night.” Sam stepped forward, “You sure you don’t need help cleaning up?” Melissa waved her off, “No, I got it, I think we have all had enough excitement for one night.”

Ethan nodded to Jason, “Can you drop me off on your way?” Jason nodded and they all made a quick exit thanking Melissa for the dinner. Sam hung back in the doorway, “I don’t want to overstep, but I think its great that you are trying, I wish my father would do the same.” She pulled the door closed behind her leaving the memory of her sad smile in Seth’s mind.

Melissa immediately grabbed the broom and dustpan to sweep up the shards of glass that were scattered across the floor. “I AM trying Melissa,” he sat down in the chair and put his elbows on the table cradling his face in his hands, “I really am.”, he muttered in between his fingers. Melissa never looked up from the glass she was sweeping up into a pile, “I told you this was going to be hard, and you were the one that wanted to try.”

Seth lifted his head just enough to speak, “Sometimes I wonder if things would have been different…” He drifted off and Melissa’s stomach started to knot up with nerves. Seth lifted his face from his hands and looked down at her, he looked worn and older than he should. “I wonder if Scott was MY son, would I have walked away so easily.”

It was like a punch to Melissa’s chest, and she realized that Scott probably heard every word, she wished she could shush him, tell him that he shouldn’t be dragging up the past. “I thought it would have made a difference, but when I would sit alone in my apartment thinking about the family I left behind, I realized it didn’t make a difference that Scott wasn’t mine, he was still my son. I was the one the held him after he was born, I was there when he took his first steps.” Melissa swept the glass into the pan, glass tinkling against itself, every word he said just made the knot in her stomach get tighter,  “He might have said mama first, but when he said dada, he said it to me. All the memories I have of him growing up, and I threw all that away over something so stupid as paternity.”

Melissa stood up and dumped the dustpan in the garbage, “Seth, I-” “No, I know I messed it all up.” His voice was dulled, like most of the fight was drained out of him. “I figured that our relationship” he thumbed between the two of them, “wasn’t recoverable, but I still had hope for Scott.” He stood up from the chair and walked to the door. “Tell Scott I’m sorry. Let me know if he might want to try again.” He stopped at the door pressing his hand against the frame and his forehead against his hand. “Maybe this was all a mistake. Maybe it would have been better to have been a clean break, I just miss it Melissa, I miss my little boy.” He pulled his head back and looked over his shoulder to Melissa still standing there with her broom, “I guess he isn’t so little anymore.”

He stepped out the door and pulled it closed behind him. Melissa sank into a chair letting the broom lean against the counter. Scott would be down any minute and she would have to explain. This was the moment that she had dreaded since he was little. She had kept telling herself she would tell him when he was older, and kept putting it off. Now she had no choice to put it off anymore, and she was the one that had kept it a secret from him for so many years.

She was the one that was to blame, so she sat and waited for him to come down, and dreaded how she was going to explain it.

****  
  
  
  



	8. Violent Tempest

 

Alex watched silently from the shadows as Jason and Ethan walked quickly out to the van and climbed in, then Sam followed a little later. Typical teenagers, but also ferocious werewolves at the same time. He had gleaned their names from the evening’s conversations and was developing an interest in their lives. They were an entertaining lot at least; the Romeo and Juliet romance of the wolf and the hunter, the secretive fae hiding her true self from her friends, the new twist of the bastard son. It was all so daytime soap opera, but also very guilty pleasure.

Alex had developed a bit of a taste for the daily drama of television. After losing his children and fleeing to an area off the beaten path, he avoided developing relationships with any of his donors, instead favoring seclusion and solitude. He still hadn’t been able to find any trace of Gerard, but this trip wasn’t proving that horrible.

So far he had made a deal with the fae to acquire her magic in finding Gerard and she was well on her way to controlling her glamour. He was easily avoiding the pathetic group of hunters that were roving the town looking for him. He had even established contact with the Argent family and could sense they were hesitant to help their patriarch. They could sense he was more if a monster than a vampire was.

He honestly didn’t know why he was trying to rush things. He was immortal after all, and he had been in seclusion for years. Gerard had been clever in his little attempt to kill all the vampires, but there were places in the world that people didn’t get vaccines and when you were as old as Alex was, you didn’t have to drink much, or often.

He leaned back against the house he had been crouching next to. Maybe it was time to relax and enjoy himself. Gerard would be dead soon enough. He would die screaming, begging for his life, and Alex would relish in ecstasy at the sound of it and bathe in his blood!

* * *

Just as soon as she slid the key into the door of their apartment, Allison knew that something was off. You might call it a 6th sense or woman's intuition, whatever it was she was hesitant to even open the door and go in, but was pretty sure the key in the door gave her away, and she didn’t want to make things more awkward. As she opened the door to the sounds of several different people she realized that they had guests in the Argent household. Well, at least she looked nice for once. She wasn’t her usual sweat soaked, leaf and dirt covered exhausted self, she could handle meeting a few new people.

The door swung open and everyone in the room stopped to look her way. Conversation pretty much stopped and they all waited for her to speak. She didn't recognize any of the people there and suddenly felt like she was on display, and then she stopped and realized that at least one gun was drawn and pointed in her general direction.

"Daaad?” She paused noting his face wasn’t in the crowd, “what's going on?" Allison looked around the room trying to find the familiar face.

Chris walked into the living room from the hallway and smiled at his daughter, "Everyone, I'd like you to meet Allison.  Allison, this is the Rancourt family, and the Keating family. They're both well respected in the hunter community. They're here to help us deal with the vampire." Her Dad’s eyes told how he really felt about their territory being invaded, but the smile plastered on his face said how he wanted Allison to react. A girl in the back leaned over and poked what looked like her sister in the arm and said, “Maybe some of the filthy dogs too.”

Allison immediately went into defense mode, her eyes snapped to her father’s fiercely, “Why is this the first I am hearing about this?” The woman holding the gun pointed toward, Allison noticed now, the door just behind Allison, stepped forward to interject, “Anne Rancourt,” She paused lowering the weapon to it’s holster just under her jacket, “your father felt that since I was older and more experienced that I would take point on this operation, but I assured Chris that you would be in on the decision making.” Chris interjected, “I just found out they were in town today.”

Sizing them up quickly, Anne looked like a mix between a hunter and a marine, her hair was pulled back in a tight knot, the two men who were obviously her brothers also looked the well trained military type. They were dressed in clothing that looked casual but still had all the functionality of fatigues. Allison noted that even here in the house they were all armed though concealed their weapons well and looked tensed, even when seated they looked ready to react at a moment’s notice.

The other family was almost polar opposite, they were dressed in what looked like something out of the superhero comics she had looked through at Stiles house one day while waiting for Scott and Stiles to get ready. She could only imagine it was kevlar or something similar and maybe spandex, covered in canvas straps, they had all kinds of little pockets and shiny trinkets on their belts. Looked like they each of them were carrying a small arsenal of items, but Allison had no idea how effective any of them were.

The two girls weren’t so much sitting on the sofa as slouching across it both poking at their own rugged looking grossly over protected tablets, and their older lanky brother was leaned back in one of the kitchen chairs so far it looked like he would tip over, playing on his cell phone. The father had not even looked up from his 10 inch tablet when Allison walked in. He must have felt her eyes on him and looked up at her then turned to Anne, “The remote cameras I have set up at the McCall house show the,” he looked back at Chris, “you said his name was Ethan? Well, he was leaving with the other two new members of Scott’s pack. I guess you were right Chris, the wolf isn’t an Omega.”

Allison tried to keep her shock from showing in her eyes, “You planted cameras on Scott’s house.” Chris stepped up to stand in between Steven and his daughter, Allison was unsure which he was protecting, “Steven is just trying to catch the vampire Allison.” “Well, the vampire isn’t going to be at Scott’s house!” She was pissed off took a deep breath, looking around the room it looked like everyone else was mostly bored.

Chris looked back at Steven, “I don’t know when he would have joined up with the McCall pack, I hadn’t been informed of any changes.” Steven went back to flipping through several other feeds.

She blew out the breath slowly turning to look at Anne, “This is a waste of time, what do we know about the current location of my grandfather. He is what the vampire is here for, and that is all he is going to be concerned with.” Anne smiled, “I agree, I told Steven it was a waste of time to set up surveillance on the McCall house, but he insisted that he thought it would be helpful. I try not to waste my time arguing about things.”

She walked toward the kitchen where there was a simple laptop, “Steven does have his uses for all his trouble.” Steven looked up from his tablet and shrugged like he already knew he was a pain in the ass. “We have the recordings from the senior care center. It looks like this nurse, one of his regulars, brings him his daily medication and,” she freezes the video and zooms in on the screen to the pills in Gerard’s hand just before he tosses the lot into his mouth, “this pill is not one of the ones prescribed to him. We think it was a sleeping pill. Someone must have added it to his cup before the nurse administer the meds to drug him. He goes back to his room and doesn’t come back out.”

Anne sinks into the chair as gracefully as an aristocrat as she pushes the lid down on the laptop. “We think that someone came in through the window, upon further inspection, we found dirt in the grooves of the window seal. The abductor or abductors were very thorough in their clean up. Almost impossibly so.”

Anne leaned in a little too close for a stranger, and glanced over Allison’s shoulder to the Keating boy leaned back in his chair still tapping away at his phone. She speaks low enough that only the two, possibly three of them would hear, “I know about the situation with you and the local Alpha, I can assure you that MY family is here to see the vampire taken care of, after that we will be out of your territory and on with our lives.” Allison glanced back to see if the Keating boy reacted at all and looked back into Anne’s almost sad eyes. Anne looked away as if catching a memory, a bitter one, “I’ve been where you are,” she paused a moment and leaned back into her chair, “take some advice from someone who’s a little older and wiser, you are in for a world of hurt.”

Steven’s voice piped up in the other room, “So if Ethan is part of the McCall pack, what about the other Alpha, his brother, what did you say his name was?”

Chris replied, “Aiden, why do you ask?”

Allison took the initiative and walked back in the livingroom to look down at Steven’s tablet, a video of Lydia’s front porch was playing as Lydia opened the door and Aiden walked inside carrying a black duffle bag.Great they were watching Lydia’s house too.

“We need to be concentrating on the vampire.” Allison nearly growled. She was so mad she was shaking. “Did we get a sample of the clay, any way we can find out where it is from?”

Steve sat his tablet down and sat up from his slouched position in the recliner, “That is actually not a bad idea, too bad I already thought of it. We are waiting on the results.” He stood up from the chair and snapped his fingers at his kids, “Girls, Drew, its getting late. I think it is about time we head out.”

“We are going out hunting?” Allison said almost surprised. “No,” Steven retorted bitingly his eyes widened in shock, “what are you crazy? You don’t hunt vampire at night, you wait til the daytime when you have the upper hand.” He rolled his eyes like Allison expected one of his teenage daughters would, “We are going to be inside our secure quarters, sleeping like babes til tomorrow.” He threw a pillow at Andrew who was still tapping on his phone. “I said let’s go.” He looked over to Anne, “I’ll see you at 6, hopefully the results will be in by then.” Anne nodded curtly and stood as well, “I think we should also be heading out.” Her brothers were up and standing next to the door before she even finished her sentence. “Chris, we will reconvene tomorrow at 0-600. I will contact you with the coordinates.”

With that they were all gone and Allison was left reeling with her thoughts. She pulled out her phone and sent a quick text to Isaac.

Allison to Isaac: Keep an eye on Scott. New hunters in town. Don’t want him to get hurt.

She quickly sent another text trying to say it without saying it.

Allison to Isaac: Don’t want any of you to get hurt.

She waited a second for a response and then looked at the time. It was late, he was probably already asleep. She should be in bed by now too if she was going to meet up with the rest of the hunting party in the morning. As she was pulling her bedroom door closed the phone chimed in her pocket. She pulled it out and the glowing screen lit up her face.

Isaac to Allison: We are trying a plan to keep him from shiftwalking. Hope it keeps him in the house for the night.

Isaac to Allison: Miss you

Allison stood staring at the screen at the last message. She missed Isaac too, but she missed Scott more. She knew it wasn’t right to keep playing with Isaac’s emotions when she knew that if given a choice, and she knew that Scott was always a choice if she just asked, she would still choose Scott over Isaac. The screen of her phone dimmed as it was about to shift into sleep mode and a voice came from her bed. “Why should you have to choose my dear?” The voice was like frigid water down her spine, but it warmed her blood and made her skin flush. “If both men make you happy, why should you deny yourself the things that you desire?”

Allison turned to face the bed, her cell phone screen went black but her eyes retained the faint glow which emanated from behind her irises. Her lips slowly curled into a wry grin, “You know, You’re right, there’s no reason I can’t have them both.”

* * *

Lydia wrapped her arms around Aiden’s neck as soon as he walked in the front doors. He mumbled into her sweetly scented curls, “I told Ethan to stay with Danny tonight, I feel like us being in the condo right now might not be the best idea. And Danny was kinda freaked out about the whole thing. He put up a good front, but he had some serious stress sweat smell and his heart was racing.” Lydia pressed her face into the curve of his neck, “It’s settled then, you are staying here.”

He pulled back from the embrace just enough to look into her eyes, “Glad I didn’t have to ask,” he paused for a moment as his eyes flittered around the room, “Are you, umm, expecting visitors again tonight?” Lydia pursed her lips somewhat tighter than Aiden thought was good as she slowly pulled back from the embrace and rubbed her hands down the front of his chest. He noticed Lydia’s eyes were a bright blue, almost the same as his when he was shifted. He definitely remembered them being green with a golden center.

Lydia’s hands trailed all the way to his hips before she pulled him back forward with his belt loops and pressed a slow soft kiss against his lips, “It should be just the two of us. Did you get anything to eat, I am kind of hungry.” Lydia turned and walked toward the kitchen.

Aiden dropped his black duffle bag in the chair next to the door, “Actually, now that you mention it I haven’t had anything to eat today, I have been so worried about Ethan that I didn’t stop to think about it.” He pulled his leather jacket off and tossed it over the duffle. “I’m glad to hear that Ethan is in Scott’s pack, I don’t know what I am going to have to do to prove to him that I can be trusted in his pack as well.” He walked into the kitchen after Lydia who was pulling out several items to make what looked like a salad and Aiden eyed her disbelievingly.

“Uh, yeah, I guess werewolves don’t really care for salad do you?” Lydia moved things around in the fridge and turned back to him, “There isn’t really much to choose from, you want a turkey sandwich?”

“Lyds, I’m kinda worried about you, well,” he huffed out a slight laugh, “I’m kinda worried about me as well. If Scott takes his time with his whole process I could easily go insane, quite literally.” He reached past her into the fridge and pulled out a container with lasagna in it, lifting it up to her questioning and smiling when she nodded. “Without Deucalion Ethan and I both fell to Omega, and now, without Ethan at least with me, I am actually the lone wolf.” Lydia pulled the sandwich stuff out and started setting it up on the counter, “I wouldn’t worry about it, I am sure that Scott will accept you as soon as he sees you. He is as worried about you and your brother as much as anyone else.”

Aiden pulled the lasagna out and put it in the microwave, “That would certainly make things better for me, uh, but I’m still worried about that is going on with you. I, sorta overheard most of what was said between Alex and you.” He leaned against the counter not looking at Lydia, instead staring into the microwave watching the lasagna make laps around the inside. “I, you,” he sighed, “I know that you are brilliant, and of all the people in this town, I certainly trust you the most, I am just worried about you. You are taking a lot of risks. I don’t want you to get hurt.” Lydia looked up from her bowl and watched Aiden staring into the microwave for a moment, “Everything will be fine.” Her tone emphasised that she was finished talking about it and she went back to ripping up the lettuce for her salad.

The microwave beeped signaling it was done and Aiden pulled it out to walk past Lydia to the table. “Your eyes are prettier when they’re green.”

Lydia smiled while tossing grilled chicken slices into her bowl, “I’ll talk to Scott about how soon we can get you in his pack. Scott trusts my opinion.” She picked up a spoon, looking at her reflection in the surface. The glamour reacted to her will almost immediately shifting back to her typical green with a golden center, she concentrated and added a fleck of gold here and there and brightened the green.

She looked over her shoulder at Aiden chewing his pasta and cocked an eyebrow at him, “Better?” He smiled and shook his head with a mouthful of lasagna. She grabbed her bowl and walked to the table sitting down across from Aiden. He looked her over, glancing at her nails and hair, “Have you been practicing? Or did you have a manicure?” She looked down at her nails and stopped to think. She closed her eyes for a second and visualized her fingernails painted her favorite soft pink color and opened them as she heard Aiden’s soft gasp. They were pink, just like she had pictured, “You are getting really good at that.” Aiden looked impressed and Lydia suddenly felt a little self conscious. “Can we keep this just between the two of us, I don’t know how anyone else will react to finding out.”

Aiden looked over his shoulder and then tilted his head a little to one side, “I think you have a visitor waiting in your bedroom.” He reached across the table to grab her hand, “If you need me, I am right downstairs.”

* * *

The sheet of paper was still completely unmarked and Stiles felt like he had just finished running laps for lacrosse practice, but instead of sweating he felt like he was cold, but it was still kind of hard to breath. Daz stood impassive as ever watching and waiting. ‘I wanted to see how much power you could generate by yourself, but you are going about it all wrong.’ Stiles looked at Daz completely exasperated, “Are you for real?Are you joking with me right now? You mean I have been killing myself trying to burn paper for 2 hours and you knew I was doing it wrong?” He flopped his head back into the pillows, “I’d threaten to smack you, but I’m pretty sure you are intangible.”

Stiles pulled his phone off the nightstand and checked the message from Danny. Curly fries? Hopefully he wasn’t joking about that. That was not something that should be joked about. But what was up with calling him Boo? He was glad that Danny could understand what he was doing. If they played off like they were dating it wouldn’t be suspicious to Tabitha that they were talking.

‘Can you pay attention,’ Daz tilted his head and squinted slightly, ‘You are thinking of performing magic as something supernatural and unrealistic, but you need to think of it more along the lines of science.’ He dropped the piece of paper on the hospital table, ‘there are sources of energy all around you that you can use to do your will.’ Daz pointed to the lights overhead, “electricity runs through the wires in the walls, heat in the air, or you can manipulate the natural reactivity in the elements around you. Think of it in terms of thermodynamics, or current and voltage and conductive materials.’ Daz picked the water pitcher up and sat it on the paper leaving a ring of condensation, then he drug his finger across the table pulling the condensation to the metal edge.

Stiles watched as Daz’s form seemed to waver and break apart slightly and the smoke swirled around as if carried by a small cyclone, the light overhead flickered and one of the bulbs made a soft pop noise before going dark. Stiles felt a building static charge in the air and then a small zap of light shot from the small  circular opening in the metal light enclosure to the paper and the bed power flickered and reset.

Daz picked up the paper and a perfect circle was browned into the paper with a line trailing to the edge. ‘The only thing I had to do was redirect the electricity.’ Daz dropped the paper into Stiles’ lap and walked to the door, ‘you are learning, and doing very well considering you have been sheltered from magic your whole life.’

Stiles sat his phone back on the nightstand and his eyes started wandering eagerly around the room thinking of other sources of energy to manipulate. ‘You have done enough for now, you should rest, have you ever tried meditation?’ Stiles jerked his head and threw up and eyebrow at Daz, “What?” Daz disappeared into a cloud of black and reappeared on the other side of the bed, ‘Meditation, you need to be of strong will and focus, close your eyes and focus on the attachment you have with the flower.’ Stiles leaned back into the pillows and closed his eyes. ‘You should be able to feel it, like a thin filament, maybe a single strand of spider silk pulling at your unconscious mind.’

It felt so silly to be pretending to meditate, especially when Stiles knew that Daz could read his thoughts, so he kept thinking about the thread, how he would find it, where it would be in his mind,... what color would a thread be if he could see it. Then he felt the tingle, almost like the beginnings of a cold chill that never followed a path down his spine. He looked with his thoughts and saw a fine green line. He turned his head without opening his eyes and looked toward the plant. It was there just like Daz had said.

Excitedly, Stiles opened his eyes to tell Daz he found it, but Daz wasn’t there. He listened in his head for the sound of his voice. ‘Daz’ he thought quietly, then he closed his eyes again and thought forcefully, ‘DAZ!’ It echoed inside his mind, he could hear his thoughts resounding in the depths of the darkness. He got no reply. Keeping his eyes closed he tried to think harder toward Daz, but he wasn’t hearing any response. Then he felt it, a faint hum of energy lightly tethered to his consciousness. It was just out of his reach and it frustrated him.

Stiles took a deep breath and tried to relax, feeling with his mind, he wandered back to the thin filament of the plant and tried to reach along the thin silk out to the plant. He could feel the life energy almost struggling to survive in the vase in the dark room even with the newly filled water, but then he notice the refreshing feeling of the water and could feel the plant drinking in the water much deeper. He could see the roots growing at the bottom of the stalk with his mind.

He pulled back into his own mind and felt for the thrum of energy he had felt before, it was deeper, somewhere further back inside the depths of his thoughts. He pressed harder reaching for the source. As he got closer to the thrum he could feel the vibration of energy shake his focus, almost as if the energy was distracting him on purpose.

He delved just a little deeper into the shadows of his mind and found it. He couldn’t see anything in the inky black, the fog of darkness clouded everything in his mind, but he could feel it like a heartbeat pulsing in the deep. The connection was thick and strong like a cord flowing full of energy. ‘And now, you have found MY connection to you.’ Daz whispered in the void. Stiles felt the dark shadows engulf him as he slipped into unconsciousness.

* * *

****  
  


It was finally dark enough out that Winter felt like she would be safe going outside and walking around. She felt like she needed to get out and test her new abilities, and she thought that she should probably try to drink from someone soon to prevent her from becoming a bloodthirsty crazed menace.

She stood in the hallway for several minutes staring into the mirror, trying to get her teeth to elongate so that she knew how to do it when she needed them, but it wouldn’t work. She pressed against her canines with her index finger checking them for sharpness and rubbed her tongue along the gums trying to stimulate them to extend. Nothing happened. Finally she gave up and thought to herself that they must come down only when she needed them to.

So she wrapped her hair up into a tight bun and pulled her hoodie up to cover most of her head. Every time she went out in public she had people staring at her and she hated the way it made her feel like a freak. After grabbing her bag she pulled the door open and stepped out into the night.

Winter stood on the front steps of the house looking out into the dark, her night vision was interesting, the way she could see most everything in the shadows. She breathed deeply taking in all the scents of the night. The lingering stench of Chuck’s cheap aftershave and stale cigarette smell made her mouth curl in disgust, and she strode down the walk toward the road.

It made her livid to think back to the way that her mother had smiled through her tears to tell Winter to be nice to Chuck. Me, be nice to him! She actually expected me to apologize to that vile, pathetic excuse for a human being. After all he had done to the both of them, he should be put in jail. An odd sensation in her mouth caused her to run her tongue along her teeth. They were descended now, she tasted copper in her mouth, the razor sharp teeth must have cut her tongue. It must be the anger that gets them to grow. Winter smiled a wicked grin, she could work with that. She had plenty to be angry about.

She was walking down toward the park, the heels of her boots clacked against the sidewalk sharply. When she was planning her excursion into the night she thought the best option for finding someone to drink from was probably the drunken homeless. She remembered the last time she was out walking at night. She had snuck out before Chuck got there so she could avoid him. When she came across the homeless man she thought that he was dead, but he was just passed out. A man in that condition would be perfect prey, and if he woke up, she knew now that she was plenty strong enough to knock him out.

It was still eating away at her thinking about Chuck and the way that he was always bringing her Mom drugs and laying around their house stinking up the place, his greasy hair and filthy hands. She tried not to think of the other things he had done, but they popped into her head like flashes from a camera. Laying in the middle of his sagging mattress surrounded by sheets smelling of stale sweat as he aimed his camera at her, telling her how pretty she was. She continued walking toward the park, the park that Chuck just happened to live close to, in his dingy, foul smelling apartment.

Winter felt her nails growing longer as she got more and more angry, thinking about all the times that he had touched her, and the way that he had forced her to touch him. She felt dirty thinking about it, she wanted to scream, she wanted to cry, she wanted to try to wash her skin off to get the memories of his dirty fingers off her pale skin. But most of all, …. most of all, she wanted him dead.

* * *

Jason pulled into the driveway and looked at the time on the little clock on the dash, “Shit!” He was way past curfew and he was probably going to hear all about it when he got in the door. He reached back into the seat behind him and grabbed his bookbag and slung it over his shoulder.

He locked up the van and walked up the well groomed pathway to the front door. Right on cue, before he could even slide his key into the door, it opened and his Mother looked out at him with a passive face, arms cross over her chest. Her hair was up in curlers and she had on her pink terrycloth bathrobe. “Keys.” It wasn’t an angry spoken word, almost bored. She held out her hand palm up, not bothering to uncross the other arm, or even fully extend the hand. Jason dipped his head forward ashamed that he hadn’t gotten in on time. Not having the van was going to make it even harder to get any time in with his new friends.

Jason reached forward slowly and put the keys into his mother’s palm and opened his mouth about to try to explain but he was cut off before he said a word. “I’m taking the van to the dealership tomorrow, I don’t see any point in you having a handicap accessible van now that you are a wolf. We’ll get you something else to drive that is better on gas. Though, with you playing chauffeur for all your friends, I guess I should consider something big enough for,” she looked questioningly into Jason’s eyes, “5 or 6? Anyway.” She closed her hand around the keys and turned to go back in the house. “Had I known that there was an Alpha still in town we could have tried to get you the bite sooner, but I thought the Hales had moved out of town for good after the fire.”

Jason stood in the doorway just completely stunned, he couldn’t even move from the spot until his mother yelled, “Jason, you are letting in bugs, if you plan on standing on the porch all night, close the door.”

* * *

Rachel sat in the huge home library staring at the screen of her phone waiting for Becca to reply. She figured that she would be busy, seeing as how Becca was going on vacation for summer break, and Rachel, well, Rachel was sitting at home, alone, no friends to speak of here in Beacon Hills.

Typically she wasn’t here long enough to meet new people much less make friends, and her Mom usually took up most of the time she was on vacation anyway. She opened her Facebook app and scrolled down her news feed, most of her friends were posting photos of themselves in tropical locations sipping on “virgin” mixed drinks, or at least that’s what they would tell their parents, splashing in pools of crystal clear blue water, and here she was alone for the rest of the night because her Mom was working at the hospital 3rd shift.

Her mind went back to earlier when she arrived and she remembered the book that her Mom seemed to be freaking out about. Not to say the West family line was something to be called normal, but her Mom was a quirky one even in comparison. Rachel just played along and put the book away, she figured it was best not to ask questions when it was something her mother was trying so unsuccessfully not to show her frustrations over.

Rachel hopped up from the seat and walked over to the bookshelf she had slid the book onto. She looked where she thought she had put it, but it wasn’t there. Odd. She skimmed through the other books on shelves above and below and still didn’t find it. Rachel leaned against the bookshelf drumming her fingers against the polished wood, why would her Mom be so freaked out that she would hide a book?

Her phone notification for a text message chimed and she pulled it out of her pocket to check what Becca said. It was a text from her Mom.

Mom to Rachel: Looks like I am going to have to pull a double, we are short staffed. You are on your own for most of the day tomorrow. Be safe.

Great, not only is she all alone in this great big house all night, but she has no ride to go anywhere tomorrow. She thought about the house, some might even call it a mansion. She remembers asking her Mom once why she never just sold the house and found something smaller, more reasonable for one woman to live in. Hannah had said that the house was an old family home and that it was far too important to keep the family traditions than to worry about the upkeep of an old house.

The house was a beautiful thing, the library alone was all hand carved accents and shelves, the wood was stained a dark red and polished till it shined. Reading nooks were lit with brass lamps covered with stained glass shades. Polished hardwood floors, real hardwood, not that thin laminate stuff, stretched the length of the room.

When she was little she never realized that her family was well off, but after going to school and learning more about other girls lives, she realized that they were, and it made her wonder why her Mom was always working at the hospital. Rachel had seen the portfolio of investments her Grandfather had left for her Mom, it was really unbelievable that they had that kind of money and Hannah still wouldn’t let Rachel have a car until after she graduated. She would never understand her Mom.

Rachel realized while thinking she was wandering aimlessly and was now standing in front of a bookshelf staring at a picture of her brother’s bucktoothed smile. She hadn’t thought of him in a long time. Even now it hurt to think that she had once had a brother who was always there for her and looked out for her, and he was just gone. It was like a place in her heart would always be empty missing his laughter to fill it.

She reached out to pluck the frame from the shelf and ran her fingers across the glass. His eyes were bright and clear in the photo. He was much younger when it had been taken. He would have been about the age Rachel was now when he died, Mother told her it was an aneurysm that took his life. No one could have predicted it or prevented it. She put the photo back in place and took a deep breath trying to chase away the heavy weight around her heart.

Rachel glanced down and noticed a strand of her long red hair was tucked underneath the baseboard of the bookshelf. Her brow crinkled in confusion, how would a hair get behind the bookshelf and the realization hit her. It was one of those hidden doorway things you always see on the old TV shows. She ran her finger along the frame of the bookshelf trying to find the lock and wondered why her Mom never told her about it. What if it held something important like the deed to the house and Rachel needed it if something ever happened to her Mom.

She pulled at the books one by one, starting with the ones that were at doorknob level and then worked her way back and up then down. None of the books opened the bookshelf, and picking up any of the decorations or photo frames did either.

She pressed at all the knots in the woodworking thinking they might be the key, but all she managed to do was get fingerprints all over the bookshelf. It was so annoying and yet very intriguing that her family had a secret room covered with a bookcase. Who knew what was behind it, it could be a vault full of treasures. She felt like the latch was just out of reach, she could almost feel it in her mind humming with a vibration of energy. If she could just find the right spot to press. She clenched her fists and closed her eyes and felt the bookshelf in her mind, the latch was somewhere and it was going to open just as soon as...

Her phone chimed again, she huffed out an exasperated breath and pulled it out to try and  read the drunken mess that Becca had sent her, but it came with a photo that Rachel figured would be great blackmail material. Topless in a hottub, making out with another girl, pretty sure Becca will not want her mom to see this. It was the perfect material to get Rachel’s pearl necklace back from when Becca “lost” it.

She started typing out a reply that she was sure Becca wouldn’t read until in the morning and decided to go to the kitchen and grab a snack. She would be sure to ask her Mom about the bookshelf, but she wasn’t sure how she was going to bring it up. As she walked out of the room she thought she heard something. It almost sounded like a man yelling for help. She strained her ears and waited, but didn’t hear anything else. She stepped back into the library and the hardwood floor beneath her feet groaned. Old houses can be so creepy sometimes.

* * *

****  
  


The first thing that Scott noticed as he slowly started waking up, his eyes still closed against the bright sun shining in the windows, was the fact that the alarm clock hadn’t went off that morning. The second thing that overtook Scott’s senses was the warm sweet scent of Isaac filling his nose. It was a comforting smell that made him just want to roll back over and go back to sleep, it was also a scent that caused some stirring low in his stomach. He started to just roll over and try to go back to sleep with his sordid thoughts before realizing that something was wrapped over his shoulder that was keeping him from doing any moving.

He popped open one eye to Isaac’s face not even an inch from his. I guess this would explain the strong scent. Isaac looked really kind of adorable asleep like that. Scott had his arm tucked underneath the pillow Isaac was laying on and noticed Isaac had drapped one of his legs over Scott’s calf. He really didn’t want to move and wake him up but he also kind of wanted to know what was up.

He lay there for a minute just looking at the line details of Isaac’s face, thick eyelashes and cupid bow lips, a damp curl of golden brown hair was stuck to his forehead and Scott started to reach forward and brush it off, but stopped himself. Isaac was a very attractive guy. Scott thought for a moment what his lips felt like before he was distracted by another familiar scent in the room and breathed in deeply and slowly trying to track it down. It was strong too, but obviously not as fresh as Isaac who was literally right in front of him. He went to tuck his other hand under his pillow and found the source. Jason’s t shirt was folded up and stuffed under the pillow. He bet there was another item with Sam’s scent somewhere close by and was about to try to find it when he noticed Isaac’s eyes pop open.

Scott laughed a little at the surprised look on Isaac’s face. “Hi,” Scott whispered as Isaac pulled his arm back from across Scott slowly and looked a little red in the cheeks as he propped himself up on his elbow. “Mornin’,” Isaac mumbled while rubbing at his eyes with the heel of his hand, “You, um, did you sleep well?” Scott rolled over on his back pulling the covers over a little in the process, his bare chest and abs uncovered in the process. “Actually, now that you mention it, I feel really good. I don’t think that I slept so well in a long time.” Scott noticed the other scent in the room and started searching for it, “What’s with the t-shirt and” Scott finally found Sam’s jacket on the desk chair, “Sam’s jacket? And,” He noticed Isaac’s eyes wandering down his torso and felt a slight tingle of heat in his already partially tented boxers, at the attention, “You crashing in here?”

Isaac realized that Scott caught him admiring his body and turned over dropping his feet to the floor on the other side of the bed. “Not that I mind.” Scott attempted to add, but getting talked over by Isaac’s explanation,  “It was actually Jason’s idea.” Scott listened for the tick in his heart, but it was the truth. Isaac stretched out his long arms over his head arching his back like a big sleepy kitten, “He mentioned to me that you might be going out every night trying to find your pack.” He glanced back over his shoulder at Scott, “That’s why you spent the other night in his backyard. He left a shirt and asked Sam to do the same. He thought it might keep you settled and you would sleep through the night. Didn’t get anything from Ethan, but I figured he wasn’t as important.”

Scott scooted up in the bed a little more pulling the covers up with him, but not too much, he was enjoying Isaac’s awkward blushes. He was going to dread when Isaac finally blew up at him over Ethan being in the pack, but that was hopefully for later. Leaning his head back into the headboard with his eyes closed, he purposefully rubbed a hand down his chest and across his abs to adjust himself underneath the covers, the scent Isaac was giving off said he definitely noticed. “Ill have to thank Jason, best sleep I have gotten in forever!” Scott lifted his head to look over to Isaac just as he turned away to get up. Isaac had on a tee and pajama shorts but Scott hadn’t expected anyone to be joining him in bed, all he had on was a thin pair of old worn boxers.

Isaac walked over to the window and pulled off a piece of masking tape. Scott wondered if being the Alpha let him smell the arousal on Isaac or if he had paid attention before if he could have smelled it as well. If he knew that Isaac could sense the same things Scott could, he would probably be embarrassed too, but right now he was enjoying teasing Isaac as he made his way to the door without turning to face Scott, “Both pieces of tape are still here,” he looked over his shoulder at Scott, Scott watched as his eyes wandered down his body, “so I guess you slept the whole night through.”

Isaac swallowed and opened the door, tilted his head to the side just slightly, then shut the door and turned back over his shoulder. It looked like Isaac’s eyes were trying to look everywhere in the room but at Scott, “Mind if I use your bathroom, Melissa is in the other shower.” Scott smiled almost wickedly, it was kind of fun knowing that the other person was so stupidly into you. He thought back to when he had been talking to Allison and thought he must have looked the same. “Yeah, go ahead.” Isaac got to the bathroom door and stepped one foot in when Scott added, “Hey,” Isaac stopped to look back holding onto the door frame, his eyebrows were squeezed together and he didn’t break eye contact once. “You wanna get Jason and Sam together and go for a run. We can see who is the fastest.”

Isaac groaned, “I suppose, can I?” He waved his hand back to the bathroom and Scott shook his head, “yeah, sorry.” The door closed a little harder that Scott thought appropriate and he laughed to himself. He was pretty sure Isaac was in his bathroom about to take a cold shower. He listened through the sound of the vibration from the exhaust fan, to Isaac twisting the squeaking knobs on the shower and the spray splashing against the enameled surface of the tub.

The door pulled back open and Isaac’s head popped out. Scott whipped his head to the door and thought he was really glad he didn’t do what he was thinking about doing when Isaac had first closed the door. Isaac glanced down to the floor and then back at Scott, “Are you, um, okay, I mean, with everything that happened last night? That was the main reason I wanted you to sleep well last night. I was thinking that you, uh, you’ve been under a lot of stress and, just...”

Scott nodded his head yes that he was fine, it was the easiest way to lie to another werewolf. If you didn’t say anything it was a lot harder to listen for the lie in the rhythm of their heartbeat. “Go ahead and shower, I’ll call Jason and see if he can pick up Sam on his way to the preserve.” Isaac pulled the door closed and Scott heard the shower curtain pull across the metal bar. Thinking about last night was like a cold shower for Scott.

His whole life he had thought that Seth was a horrible father, now he realized he wasn’t a father at all, just a man trying to be a father to someone else’s kid. It made Scott almost feel sorry for his fath, he stopped himself in mid thought and realized, Seth wasn’t his father. It made Scott feel bad for Seth, he had spent all this time trying to correct a mistake he made, while trying to be a father when he knew that he wasn’t one. It put a whole new perspective on the situation.

* * *

Stiles, his head tilted back at an awkward angle, watched the florescent bulbs slowly going overhead as he held on to his bookbag full of all the crap he had in the hospital room. He had on his own clothes again, which felt so nice not to be wearing a thin hospital gown that was almost see thru. He didn’t even want to think about all the people that had seen his junk while putting in and taking out catheters, the whole thing was a horrible invasion of his privacy, and the stupid nurse wouldn’t even let him walk from his room to the front of the hospital. Hospital protocol dictated that Stiles rode in a wheelchair from his room all the way to the exit.

The whole time he is riding down the hallway he is talking a million miles an hour about how he is perfectly capable of walking, something he had been doing ever since he was 2, he had plenty of experience walking, he didn’t understand why he needed to be treated like an invalid. Brittany or Bambi, whatever her name was didn’t really look like she cared in the least as that Stiles wanted to walk or that he was in a hurry as she ignored Stiles while flirting with the other nurse Bryan.

Stiles thought back to earlier when they had moved from the dark dim room into the bright hallways, Daz had disappeared. He still heard him whispering inside his head and could definitely still feel the connection to him while they were rolling down the hallway. Stiles looked around the hallway into any shadowed doorway or storage room and saw the darkness stir in each room as he passed. The whole situation left Stiles with a perplexing thought in the back of his mind, it was like a bad taste on your tongue that you just can’t get rid of, but he tried not to think about it since Daz was basically inside his head.

The sliding glass doors at the entrance of the hospital opened and Stiles hopped out of the wheelchair before it even stopped and bolted for the door, “Thanks for the ride, Bambi, hope you and Bryan live happily ever after.” He looked back over his shoulder to Brittany gaping after him with a cocked eyebrow and he gave a little wave and smiled.

When he got out outside the hospital he looked quickly around and noticed that Danny was sitting by the curb, thankfully without Ethan, he also noted the security camera just outside the hospital entrance. He huffed out a short breath and put on his determined face. He was just going to do it.

He walked over to the car and opened the door to Danny’s smiling face, he was tapping away at the screen of his phone and in the seat was a bag from his favorite fast-food joint and the scent of curly fries was wafting in the breeze. “OMG! You got me fries?” Stiles said tossing his bookbag over the seat into the back. Danny sat his phone in his lap and picked up the bag so Stiles could get sit down, “Yeah, I figured that you are probably sick of hospital food and-”

Danny was shocked when Stiles leaned in and pressed his lips against his mouth mid sentence. Danny was at a loss with what to do but roll with it and surprisingly, Stiles was a really good kisser. He just hoped that Stiles explained later, he tilted his head into the kiss and pulled Stiles’ bottom lip into his mouth. It was definitely not what Danny had expected kissing Stiles would be like, and then he felt Stiles’ hand in his lap. Danny pulled back from the kiss to look down to Stiles’ hand seriously shocked. Stiles jerked back and dropped Danny’s cell phone into the open soda cup. “Oh, shit, I’m-” He stopped and reached into the cup pulling out the phone that was turned off. “So, sorry.” He pulled off the back and pulled out the battery. His face looked like he was really sorry, but his voice didn’t match up with what he was saying.

“She is probably listening in with your cell phone mic even when your phone is in standby mode. I already pulled the battery out of my phone, and the security camera at the entrance to the hospital has a clear view of us sitting here.” He wiped at the battery with a napkin from the bag of fries, “I’m very apologetic, now you need to forgive me.”

Danny fought to control his face and spoke through grinding teeth,”I’ll forgive you after I have a chance to get really pissed! That phone cost a lot of money Stiles! My Dad is going to be so pissed!” He reached out and snapped the battery out of Stiles hand and sat it in the other cup holder with the phone and back. He leaned back into the seat and huffed out a heavy breath. Danny leaned his head back into the headrest double facepalming and dragging his hands down to flop in his lap.

He over leaned over slowly and smiled cupping Stiles’ face in his hand and whispered, “I’m going to kill you if my phone doesn’t work after it dries out.” The look on his face said I forgive you, but the tone of his voice said otherwise. He leaned back in and pressed a soft kiss against Stiles’ lips. He pulled back just a little pressing his forehead to Stiles’, “And now I’m going to have to explain to Ethan why I smell like we’ve been making out.”

Stiles pulled back from the sweet display and pulled his seatbelt on. “There are no cameras anywhere near the Hale house, if you wanted to drive out there.” Danny put the car in drive and pulled out of the space, “There are no cameras at your house, any reason we aren’t going there?” Stiles rubbed his fingers across his lips, “Actually there are cameras there, my Dad has security cameras at both doors and my computer has a webcam, besides the drive will give me time to tell you about Tabitha, the woman that is keeping tabs on you.”

He licked his lips again and reached up to rub his thumb across the bottom lip. Danny kept glancing over at Stiles touching his lips, “What are you doing?” Stiles dropped his hand into his lap, “Nothing, umm, just. Sorry,” he glanced over to Danny and tried to adjust his underwear that were a bit too tight at the moment, without Danny noticing. “It’s been a little while since I have been kissed, and you are really, um. No, yeah, you are a good kisser.” Danny could feel his cheeks burn.

Danny kept his eyes on the road and flicked the bag of curly fries with his finger, “Eat your fries before they get cold.” Stiles immediately pulled the bag open and started shoving the fries into his mouth. “OMG! These are soooo good, Thank you so much!” talking with his mouth full of salty grease heaven, Stiles thought he heard Danny say, “You are a good kisser too.” but when he turned to him and asked what Danny grabbed his soda and took a sip, “How does Ethan work into this charade that you have playing out for Tabitha? You know she has probably seen the two of us together.”

Stiles opened his mouth to reply and closed it again. Danny looked over at him once then back at the road and looked back at him again with an scowl on his face, “I’m supposed to be cheating on Ethan with you? or is it the other way around?” Stiles rubbed his hand through the stubble on the back of his head, “I was thinking that I was the relationship and Ethan was the hot guy on the side?” Danny laughed out loud, “Great, not only am I a hacker, but I am a guy who cheats on my boyfriend when he is in the hospital. Do I need to know about any puppies I need to kick or sleeping babies I should slap?”

Stiles stuffed more fries into his mouth and chewed looking at Danny as he glanced back at him. He finished chewing and swallowed his food, “I admit, I didn’t think this through as well as I usually would, I have been a little sleep deprived. But I DID find out who is blackmailing you. That has to count for something!”

Danny pulled up the drive heading to the Hale house, “Ethan will hopefully laugh about this. I just want you to know that if we WERE dating, I wouldn’t cheat on you, even with a guy as hot as Ethan.”

Stiles pulled his head back and looked over at Danny, “That is so sweet, it almost makes up for you teasing that you would sleep with me, back when I was trying to lose my virginity to keep from being sacrificed by the Darach.” He looked out the passenger window at the woods whizzing by, “Almost.” Danny pulled the car up next to the porch of the Hale house and put it in park. He looked over at Stiles, “You still haven’t?” Stiles glanced back and just opened the door and climbed out of the car. Daz materialized in the shadows of the woods as soon as Stiles stepped out of the car. ‘You know you could have just turned the cell phone off.’ Stiles argued with Daz inside his head ‘then I would have to explain why his phone wasn’t working. And don’t talk to me, I am still pissed at you!’ He slid his finger in the hospital bracelet still around his arm and pulled at it, ‘I have had just about enough of being forced to sleep!’

Stiles walked up to the porch steps and sat down roughly on the worn wooden boards, Danny got out of the car and walked over confused about Stiles odd mood swing. He leaned against the wooden at the top of the stairs. Stiles must really be sensitive about the whole virginity thing. He reached in his pocket for his phone out of habit and remembered it was drying in the car. Stiles seemed to be fidgeting even more than was normal for him so Danny interrupted, “Um, sorry, I didn’t mean-” Stiles looked up dropping his eyebrow confused, “Huh, for what?” Danny waved his hand off dismissively, “So, what can you tell me about Tabitha.”

* * *

The sound of feet pounding down the steps snapped Aiden awake on the sofa. He groggily thought he must have fallen asleep watching TV while waiting on Lydia to come down after her little evening chat with the vampire.  Aiden winces at the tight knot in his neck from sleeping on the armrest. He stretches his head to the opposite side rubbing at the tight muscles until his healing factor kicked in and returned the tissue to its normal pliable state.

Lydia clears her throat standing in front of him, and as he looks up he jerks his head back in shock. “What do you think?” Lydia questions brightly, her eyes much wider than should be humanly possible. “I was able to manipulate my glamour to a much greater degree.” She dropped her eyebrows in worry as she looked at what she thought was Aiden’s angry face. “I am so sorry I lost track of time. I didn’t mean to leave you down here all night.” The frowning eyebrows made her look even more severe. She pulled her phone out of her pocket to check the time, it was already morning.

“Lydia, you, um,” he swallowed and shook his head gently back and forth, “you don’t look normal.” Her soft dewy pink lips parted and she gasped in a short breath, “What do you mean?” He stood up to closer examine all the little changes that were adding up to her looking abnormal. Her hair was flawless, every single strand smooth from root to tip, all her soft freckles were gone from the bridge of her nose and her usually pale skin was almost white. Her green eyes were normal, but the golden center actually reflected the light in the room like real gold. She looked like a model that had been photoshopped by someone with incredibly high standards of beauty and then brought to life.

“I don’t know what all you did Lydia, but you, you just don’t look real. You look like a computer generated character. You’ve erased everything about you that makes you look like,... well, look like you. It’s, well, unnerving. You look scary.” She looked at her hands and then back at Aiden, her eyes carried emotion much more expressively. He could tell that she was hurt but brushing it aside as if it didn’t matter, “I didn’t change that much, I just straightened my hair and lightened my skin a little, made my eyes a little more open,” she turned her hand over looking at her fingernails that looked like polished glass, her hands folded almost without forming creases. As she continued, her nails went from crystal clear to a soft pink and then the tips of them frosted with white. “plumped my lips just a tad, got rid of those silly freckles and a few scars-” Aiden reached out hesitantly to brush her hair behind her ears, “But, I love your freckles.”

He pulled his hand back like he was afraid to keep touching her and Lydia could see the worry in his eyes. “Oh, my god. You are serious?” She mouthed several words but nothing would come out until she found her voice again, “I look so bad that you can’t even touch me?” Aiden opened his mouth to argue, but Lydia spoke first, “Alex said I looked flawless and exquisite like a priceless jewel!” Aiden’s tongue slipped out to wet his dry lips, “you definitely look flawless, but, not in a normal way,” he shook his head back and forth, “there is no way you can go out in public looking like that.” He turned away and rubbed his fingers across his brow pinching at the bridge of his nose, “I don’t want to sound like an unsupportive boyfriend, but, everyone will freak.” he looked back up and the real Lydia stood in front of him again. She dragged her fingers through her hair and the waves fell to frame her face. “You look more beautiful to me just like you always do.”

“I may have gotten a little carried away.” She looked down at the carpet for a moment. Aiden noticed her fingernails were still pink and he was pretty sure the way her hair hung in messy ringlets wasn’t normal either, but it was safe. It was believable. He stepped forward brushing his thumb along her jawline, lifting her eyes from the carpet. His fingers combed into her hair to the back of her neck to scrub his fingers in her locks. Lydia let herself be pulled toward him and their lips pressed together softly. Aiden brought his other hand up to the small of her back and pulled her in closer as their lips caressed. He pulled back for just a moment to whisper, “there’s my girl,” before Lydia suddenly went limp in his arms. He grabbed her before she hit the floor and pulled her up into his arms.

“OH, looks like she finally crashed.” Aiden’s icy blue eyes met with Alex’s as he stood in the doorway watching the scene. A growl rattled deep in Aiden’s chest, “What did you do to her?” “Oh, little pup, you wouldn’t even last a minute.” Alex stepped out onto the walkway at the top of the stairs. “She expended quite a large amount of energy tonight, she will need her rest.” He wrapped his long fingers around the banister and smiled, “I’m not here to hurt her, or you for that matter. I just want the sweet revenge that is due me.” He waved his hand toward Aiden still holding Lydia in his arms, “Make sure that she gets some rest and keep an eye on her. We’ve loosened the cloak, some of her magic might start to, shall we say,... slip out.”

Aiden looked down to Lydia’s face for a split second and when he looked back up the stairs Alex was gone. He cocked his head listening for any indication of how he left, where he might have gone, nothing. He just vanished.

* * *

Allison grasped the coffee cup tightly and let it’s heat soak through into her chilled fingertips. It was odd for her to be cold and it didn’t seem like anyone else was, though Steven and his kids were also sipping at Starbuck’s coffee cups and looked like they weren’t the ‘morning people’ type. Anne and her brothers were all bright eyed and looked just as tense as the previous night.

The sun was up and filtering down through the leaves, casting dancing shadows across the forest floor each time the wind blew. Chris and Anne were debating the best way to move forward at this point. They still had no recent sightings of the vampire, and the clay in the window seal was common modeling clay, so that gave them nothing to go on.

“If the vampire hasn’t found Gerard yet, then he must be concealed with some form of magic, maybe druid or wiccan.” Anne looked to Chris, “Do you have any contacts here in town that are familiar with the druid ways?” Chris looked to Allison and she could see the muscle in his jaw flex like he didn’t want to get Alan involved in all this.

Steven interrupted, “Just because we haven’t had any sightings doesn’t mean that we have no evidence of his activity.” Anne let out a heavy sigh, “The speed sensors on your cameras could be picking up birds flying by for all we know.” Allison looked to Anne and cocked an eyebrow at her, “The elder vampires are much faster than werewolves. They have to be to move about during the daylight hours.” She leaned into the hood of their SUV, “If they stand in direct sunlight for too long they catch on fire, and once they start burning, they typically don’t stop.” She lifted the corner of her mouth slightly thinking about the vampire burning. “Steven thinks that because his camera’s radar keep picking up bursts of motion at 35 to 45 mph that it means the vampire is avoiding the cameras but is in the area.”

Steven stepped up beside Allison to show her the map he had pulled up on his tablet computer, “Look, if I’m right, it looks like he is keeping tabs on you and your father.” The map showed several red points on the map near their apartment building, a few of them were flashing yellow. He widened the map further and Allison could see the number of cameras and sensors he had spread through Beacon Hills. He was very thorough to say the least. There had to be nearly a hundred cameras spaced out over the area.

Allison noted several of the flashing yellow markers seemed to gather around the area near Lydia’s house. It could just be a coincidence, but it wasn’t something that she wanted to take a chance with. “These look almost random,” she said dismissively, “I think that Anne is right, probably nothing more than birds, bicyclists even. Certainly not enough to waste time chasing after.” She pulled her coffee up ignoring Steven looks of annoyance to sip the steaming brew, “I’m afraid I haven’t read up on vampire hunting methods, so I will have to differ to Anne’s experience.” Allison stepped away from Steven’s side toward Anne and her father, “I think we should concentrate on the bait for a trap, but for the meantime, is there anything we can do to set up the vampire? Any traps that might luck out and possibly snare him without Gerard?”

Anne looked over to Chris, “I think she is well on her way to a great leader.” Anne reached down and pulled a black duffel off the ground, “My father taught us very little about hunting vampires as they were supposed to be all dead, but I found some notes. I was actually just about to ride out and try some out. You can help me place them.” She pulled open the door to her SUV, you can ride with me and I’ll teach you about vampire weaknesses.” Anne eyed her brothers and gave them a near imperceptible nod.

* * *

The light above Winter was like ten suns shining down into her eyes. It was a cold bluish-white light, shining down from a fixture directly above her.  She could barely stand to open her eyes to it, even with her eyes closed, her eyelids glowed from the outside.

She didn’t so much as wake up on the table, more like she became aware of her surroundings. The rest of the room could have been anything for all she could tell, the only thing she could see was the piercing halogen bulbs beaming down on her face. A slight murmur was all she could manage when she tried to say ‘hello’, and her attempt to move her head to either side was also thwarted by some restraints.

The rest of her body was a phantom to her. She couldn’t feel anything, and couldn’t tell if she was able to move anything, but she felt certain that she wasn’t moving at all. A panicked thought stabbed into her mind that she was paralyzed, but that couldn’t be, she was a vampire she would heal.

She squished her eyes closed harder trying to escape from the blue glow sneaking it’s way between her pale lashes. Thinking back, she tried to piece together how she had gotten here, she didn’t remember anything after walking through the park. It was all just a fog.

She drew in a deeper breath tasting the air in the process, it tasted like burnt plastic and bleach, lots of chemicals she couldn’t identify. The air was chilled far more than she thought air conditioning should be comfortable. “e’lo?” she was able to make a little more noise this time, hopefully someone would come explain what had happened, why she was here, why she couldn’t move.

Winter heard the door slide open, smooth mechanical glass doors she assumed from the sound it made, and the soft footfalls of a person stepping just inside the room. “Finally feeling a little more like ourselves are we Miss Chapman?” The voice was several feet away, calm without any concern almost as though they had no interest in checking on her.

How did they know my name? Winter remembered the ID in her pocket, they must have searched her person. She really wished she could move her legs and arms, anything to make her feel less helpless. She drew in another deep breath nearly choking on the scent of the man and his thick cologne and cigar smoke. Dread began to flood her mind and if she could hyperventilate, she probably would have been at that moment. “Glad to see that you made a full recovery from last night’s activities.” Winter hummed something nondescript in an attempt to scream at him and the man interjected, “Don’t bother trying to talk, the kanima venom won’t shut you up, but the mix of various herbs and pharmaceuticals running through your veins are my special blend.”

The doors opened and closed again to the sound of a second set of feet, these were heels, clacking fiercely against the unyielding floor. A gleeful squeal came from the woman’s mouth as she circled the table Winter assumed she was strapped to. “Oh, this one is a beauty! Just look at her flawless skin and this hair, it is white as new fallen snow.” The woman’s voice took on a bite as she returned to where the man was still standing. “You will not be cutting this one up for spare parts, you hear me Horace?” It sounded like the woman covered her mouth and gasped. “Don’t worry Mrs. Vettingham, she won’t remember anything after the mind wipe. In fact there is really no sense in her being awake now.”

The panic swelled into a chorus of emotion, she couldn’t feel her heart hammering against her chest, but she felt the tears welling in her eyes as the man’s soft steps grew closer. Suddenly the lights above went out, or the darkness of unconsciousness crowded her vision. Either way she was gone and her dreams held fast to her mind.

 


	9. Lightning Scarred

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Not beta-ed.
> 
> Please message me with corrections if you see them.

 

* * *

 

Danny didn’t like leaving Stiles all alone at the Hale house but Stiles was pretty adamant that he could get home from there, and after the 5th time of asking him to get in the car and the 3rd eye roll, Danny reluctantly pulled away from the house. Danny stopped at the end of the long driveway and thought about sending Stiles a text to let him know if he needed a ride later, but his phone was still in several pieces. He reached out and flipped the AC to high, it was oddly warm out today.

He was supposed to act like nothing had changed even though he knew who was blackmailing him and now he knew why. He actually stopped to think about being stuck in a wheelchair and honestly wished that he could help.

The whole situation really didn’t make any sense to him. It wasn’t like Deucalion was going to just pop up out of the blue and Danny was going to be the first person to find him. Danny and Deucalion had no connection other than Ethan and she could just as easily hack into Ethan’s phone. But then, it sort of made sense that Danny was the only one thus far to be actively searching for Deucalion online, so maybe she thought she had some competition, or maybe she thought he was a lead. Either way the odds weren’t in her favor.

Danny thought back to the chat in the woods. The whole time Stiles was talking to Danny about the situation, he seemed distracted by something, and for Stiles to seem more distracted than normal was seriously saying something. Danny could have sworn that Stiles was having an argument with himself at points during their talk. He watched his lips moving slightly as Stiles stared off into the woods and he kept getting annoyed easily, drawing his eyebrows together and roughing his fingers through his hair. He even held his hand out to the trees almost as if to tell them to be quiet while Danny was asking him a question about Tabitha. And earlier, the whole kissing him thing, which was better than he thought it would be, but still so random. He could have done a hundred other things to distract Danny long enough to pull his phone battery. Clearly, he hadn’t been thinking straight. Danny laughed to himself at the pun, not thinking straight.

Well, if Danny had been sleep deprived and then in a coma for several days he might not be the best at making up a plan either, so he just let it slide. It still concerned him somewhat.

He pulled up to a red light and stopped to wait. He remembered the kiss and the fact that werewolves have an amazing sense of smell, so he pulled out a pack of breath mints and popped a few into his mouth, then grabbed his cologne and sprayed his neck. He really didn’t want to have to explain the reason why Ethan might smell Stiles on him. Though hopefully Ethan would laugh at the whole thing. Danny figured it would be best not to discuss Tabitha anywhere that a stray microphone might be listening. He leaned his head back into the headrest, this had to be the longest traffic-light ever; it felt like it was never going to change and there was no traffic coming from the other directions.

He reached for the battery to his cell, figuring that the phone should have had time to dry out enough to test, he popped the battery back in and powered it on. It came to life. At least now his didn’t have to kill Stiles, or maim him seriously. He sent a quick text to Ethan to see what he was up to and his phone chimed.

 

Unknown to Danny- Sorry to hold you up… been making out at the old Hale place?

 

Danny looked around the intersection and saw the camera that watched for people running the red light. He felt his stomach drop. She could find him anywhere.

 

Unknown to Danny- Your car’s GPS works even if your phone is turned off.

 

Unknown to Danny- Do us both a favor and don’t try to be cute. Just do as you are told and leave the big stuff to the grown-ups. I don’t actually NEED you for anything. But if I do, you WILL do as you are told.

 

Danny flexed his jaw grinding his teeth together pressing the phone into the seat next to him and his phone chimed again. He came close to rolling down the window and throwing it out into the street, but noticed the message was from Ethan.

 

Ethan to Danny- Just wrapping up a run with Scott and the guys. It’s so hot today!! We were going to get  fruit smoothies at Jimbo’s, wanna go?

 

Unknown to Danny- Go, play with your little friends. I know where to find you.

 

Danny to Ethan- I’ll meet you there.

 

The car behind Danny laid on their horn and he realized he was still sitting at the intersection blocking traffic. He hit the gas and headed through the now GREEN light toward Jimbo’s.

Had she been controlling the traffic lights, or was that just a coincidence? Knowing who she was didn’t stop her from having the evidence to blackmail him into doing whatever she wanted. He hated feeling this worry in his gut. He almost wished that he actually knew where Deucalion was so that he could hand him over to her on a silver platter. Maybe then this would all be over with.

He looked up at the navigation screen on the dash of the car. Stiles is the one that really should have been paying attention enough to catch that. Considering Danny didn’t even know what was going on. Something was seriously off with Stiles, Danny wanted to figure it out, but he had bigger problems, and he was completely out of ideas.

 

 

* * *

 

 

“So, after the argument, Seth kinda let the cat out of the bag about Scott not being his biological son,” Melissa stared down at the formica table top at the coffee shop, her hair was pulled back in a messy bun and her scrubs looked like she may have slept in them, “he wasn’t yelling, just normal conversation level, but with the enhanced hearing,” she closed her eyes with a pregnant pause and sighed slowly, “I can’t imagine that Scott didn’t hear him.” She pulled at a couple of stray locks that had escaped the bun and tucked them behind her ear before glancing up with a weak smile, “Unless maybe Isaac had him distracted at the time.” she quipped hopefully. She hadn't mentioned the obvious crush Isaac had on Scott to Jonathan yet, but he seemed to read her facial expressions pretty well.  Looking back down into her cup she chewed at her fingernails obviously agitated.

Jonathan sat in the booth opposite her, a resolute look was pasted on his face. He looked like he was processing everything she was saying and his mouth opened for a moment but nothing came out. The dark circles under his eyes made it obvious it had been several days since he had slept well, and he was still in his uniform, having just gotten off work. “He doesn’t know who though, right?”

Melissa jerked her head up sharply and her mouth drew into a flat line. “John, this is serious!” She realized she was talking a bit louder than she intended and glanced around the coffee shop to see if anyone looked up, then looked back to her cup of coffee. “What am I supposed to tell him when he asks?” Jonathan rubbed his index finger across his pursed lips thinking, “I guess we have to tell him the truth.” He huffed out a humorless laugh, “The werewolves can tell when you are lying by listening to your heart beat.”

Melissa’s stoic face met his again with the same drawn mouth, “This is not funny.” Melissa pulled her cup of coffee closer cupping it with both hands like she wanted to feel its warmth in her hands. “I kept telling myself that I would tell him when he was older, I would tell him next year, now is not the right time, too much is going on right now and now…” She pressed her knuckles against her lips, “He is nearly 18, wrapped up in all this supernatural mess, running for his life and … and I have been hiding this from him his whole life. How do you even tell someone that you love that you have been keeping something from them from the day they were born?”

Jonathan reached across the table to touch Melissa softly on the hand. The warmth from her skin surprised him. She met his eyes and looked broken, he wanted so very much to be the person that could tell her the right thing, he wished he could put it all back together for her. He thought back and what-if scenarios filled his thoughts. What if he and Claudia had gotten a divorce? What if Melissa had gotten fed up with Seth’s drinking sooner? What if Claudia lost the baby again, would she have ever taken him back? Would he have even been able to be with Melissa after losing Claudia? Questions he would never know the answer to.

All this time and the gold band was still on his finger because he had truly loved Claudia, but that didn’t mean he didn’t also care for Melissa as well. “I can’t tell you the words to say, but I know you.” He pressed her hand between his softly and watched Melissa’s eyes wander to the wedding band. “You will do fine. Just let it go and hope for the best.”

Melissa could feel the burn of tears threatening to brim in her eyes, it was all so much to deal with. She really needed to get home and get some sleep before her shift at the hospital, but in all honesty this was the first time in forever that any man had held her hand, and she didn’t want to let that go so quickly. She thought back to Peter and decided that didn’t count because he was only dating her to get at Scott. Then her eyes stopped on the warm glow of golden metal. The scuffed up wedding band was still there after all these years.

She kept telling herself that it was a symbol of his attachment to his wife and that once he finally took it off he would be done grieving and dealing with her loss. Only after he stopped wearing the ring would she do it. Once he took off the ring she would just walk up to him and ask him out on a date. She didn’t care what anyone thought. To hell with traditional gender roles, she would ask HIM out and they would stop dancing around each other like they had been doing for so long. But it had been over 6 years, and there it was, still an unending band of gold wrapped somewhat loosely around his slightly thinner finger.

She pulled her hand out from between his, not a jerk but certainly not slowly. “I really have to run get some sleep before grave shift tonight, and Scott is out with his friends, so I have the house to myself.”, a forced smiled looked fine on her lips, but the eyes told the lie. She hopped up and grabbed her bag from next to her in the booth. Even though she could see the way Jonathan leaned forward with something on the tip of his tongue, she muttered, “I’ll see you later.” and with that she was walking toward the door.

Jonathan pulled his hands back across the table and leaned on his elbows. He watched Melissa walking away and let out the breath he didn’t realize he had been holding. He leaned back in the booth and the waitress stopped by the table to ask, “Would you care for some more coffee?” He nodded and noticed that he was twisting at his wedding band, turning it around and around his finger.

He glanced back at the door that Melissa had walked out of and then back at his index finger and thumb moving the loose ring around his ring finger. He pulled it down to the knuckle and the stark ring of white skin underneath felt odd exposed to the air. He pushed the ring back in place and gripped his coffee cup, drumming his fingers against it, the band clinking against the porcelain.

 

The TV over the counter seating had the weather channel playing and the reporter was talking about the current forecast, “... don’t usually see the Santa Ana winds affecting the Beacon Hills community, but with the lack of moisture in the atmosphere and the high pressure system to the south of us, it is making for a real scorcher out there today. Looking at breaking records with this heat wave, definitely not a normal day for us here in beautiful California, but at least the humidity isn’t up there or we would all be even more miserable. I had hoped to provide you with relief later in the week, but it looks like this high is stalled for the time being, and without any rain in the forecast, we might be looking at some serious crop damage. We want to warn our viewers to be on the look out for heat lightning and to stay hydrated. We’ll have more for you tonight at 11.

 

 

* * *

 

  
  


After Alex took off, Aiden had carried Lydia up to her bed. She was completely out of it and he was worried about her even though Alex had said she was fine, but he was also worried because he had no idea when Lydia’s Mom was going to be getting home.

After debating for awhile whether he should stay or go, he opted for both. He decided that he didn’t want to help himself to whatever was in the Martin’s cupboards, but he was starving, and he didn’t want to leave Lydia alone if her Mom wasn’t coming back until tomorrow. So the plan was to run out real quick for a bite to eat and then ride back by and see if Lydia’s Mom had came back afterward, if not he could check on Lydia.

That was the plan, but thing didn’t quite work out like he had planned. Figuring he needed to take his time eating to give her Mom plenty of time to come home, he ate at a pretty leisurely pace and drove through the park to kill some time, but sweat was running down his back after a short ride and he figured enough time had passed, he was just going to drive by the house slowly on his bike and check the driveway.

The driveway was empty and the front door was standing open. Lydia’s Mom wasn’t there, but then neither was Lydia.

Aiden pulled his phone out and sent a quick text to Lydia.

 

Aiden to Lydia- Didn’t want to leave a note in case your Mom came home. Where did you go?

 

He swung his leg off the bike and walked toward the door. It was standing wide open and as he stepped through the doorway he expected to feel some change in temperature when stepping into the AC, but it was almost just as hot inside the house as out. Lydia had been gone for awhile. He ran up the stairs two at a time to see if she had left him a note next to the bed. The bed was still unmade and looked as though she just slipped out of it and didn’t disturb anything else in the room.

He sniffed at the air trying to catch her scent, as if it would be hard for him considering how often he had been wrapped up in her long copper strands. He followed the scent down the stairs and toward the front door. And about the time he got about 20 feet away, Lydia’s Mom walked up to the door.

Of course it looked like a break in and Aiden was robbing the house, you know, black leather jacket and standing in the middle of a house that wasn’t his, door standing wide open. Mrs. Martin was completely within the reasonable reaction range to scream bloody murder and whip out pepper spray to douse Aiden’s face in. Aiden tried to remain calm through the burning pain in his eyes and the searing inside his sinuses, he kept repeating what he thought was ‘I’m Lydia’s boyfriend.’ But it might have been lost in translation in the midst of his coughing and the drainage coming from his sinuses, eyes watering all over the place. He dropped to his knees rubbing at his eyes which made the burning that much worse, while clutching at his face, somewhere in the back of his mind, that small, still rational part noted, this pepper spray works really well against werewolves.

Donna Martin had never used her pepper spray before and was quite impressed with how quickly it dispatched the young thief in her livingroom. He was down and coughing so much he could barely speak, eyes were shut immediately and he was out of commission. She felt a small smug satisfaction that she wasn’t going to be a victim, and she was just about to dial 911 on her phone, that was until he started muttering something about Lydia and the word boyfriend followed somewhere there after. “OH MY GOD! I am SOOOOO sorry,” she yelled, “I thought you were a burglar! I’ll get you a towel with some milk on it, that should help the burning.”

 

* * *

 

 

The chime signaled to Alan that someone had just come in the clinic door, so he slid the vial of blood back into the stand and decided Mr. Casteen would have to wait until after lunch to find out if his Great Dane, Rosanne was pregnant or not. Walking out into the waiting area, a pale skinned young girl with dark eyes and a bitchy look on her face stood waiting for him.

“She said to drop this off for you, and I was told to get payment before delivery.” The girl talked in a flat tone like she could give a shit less if the package was delivered or payment was received. Alan smiled softly, the smile wasn’t returned, “I have no doubt of the quality of work your aunt does.” He pulled a small box from under the counter, it was made of wood so dark it was almost black but when it caught the light it had a red hue to it. “So, Here is the payment requested.” He sat the box on the counter and pressed if forward lightly with his fingertips. “And,” He looked at the small cardboard box the girl held and waited. “Yeah, whatever.” said the girl as she slapped the cardboard box on the countertop snatching the wooden one away quickly. “What’s in the damn box anyway, more magic crap?”

Alan looked up from the cardboard box he had moved away from the edge while the youth was examining the wooden container. “No, actually it is a special blend of tea.” He smiled again, showing a bright smile, and again the smile was not returned. “Tell your aunt thank you from me.” “Whatever!” grumbled the girl as she pushed the clinic door open and stepped out into the sun.

Alan grabbed a box cutter from one of the drawers and cut the tape carefully, even though he knew that they would be packed with the utmost care. Inside the box was an ample amount of white tissue paper packed loosely around three small black velvet bags which were tied closed with crimson strand of ribbon. He opened the first bag and tipped the contents into his palm. A tiny heart shaped charm for a necklace tumbled out into his hand. The heart had the impression of a wolf’s paw indented into one side, a triskele in the middle of the print and the other was carved with tiny swirls. He recognized several of the runes, but most people would never even realize what they were. The attachment was on the right side of the heart so the charm would hang at an angle.

Allison’s blood and her father’s silver were in this locket, he also had asked that Scott’s blood be added to all three to make the binding better using the pack bond to strengthen it. He winced and internally hoped that all the blood was used only for this purpose as he slid her jewelry back into the tiny satchel.

Dumping out the contents of the second bag, he found Stiles’ charm. He figured it best to leave the artistic work up to someone else, but asked that it be as masculine as possible, he didn’t know if Stiles would be vain enough to refuse to wear a piece of jewelry if it was too feminine. It looked very simple, a simple circular design with a bold triskele on the front and inscriptions on the back. It had a loop on opposite sides so that it could be worn as a bracelet or as a charm. The metal looked nothing like the badge that Alan had handed over originally.

Alan returned Stiles’ charm to the bag and pulled the last bag out. He could almost sense the energy through the velvet. He pulled the ends of the ribbon and dropped the metal out of its sack into his palm. The surface was smooth but warm to the touch. He wondered if the blood was still stirring with life trapped inside the container. Evelyn had outdone herself with this one. The disk was golden like the watch, but the steel gears from inside the watch had been pressed into the softer metal in a pattern to create the triskele. The entire surface of the disk was smooth and the back had no inscriptions, they had been done to the inside of the shell. He inspected the outside carefully looking for any flaw that might irritate sensitive flesh. The trinket had no ring to attach it to a necklace or bracelet, which was a good thing, that would only cause irritation when Alan placed it where he thought would be the safest place, underneath Scott’s skin in the center of his back.

 

 

* * *

 

 

‘The sooner you get Derek and Cora back the better. We have no way of knowing what the Fae might be doing to them. The Unseelie have a wicked way to them that you would not want to see. The Seelie are really not much better even with their upstanding morality.’ Stiles noted the sarcastic tone that came with ‘upstanding morality’.

They had been at if for awhile and Stiles was getting tired, and hot. Stiles was feeling a little unsure about all this magic and really wanted to talk with Alan about it, “You said it was really advanced magic and that I wouldn’t even be able to do it” Stiles sniped back. He was getting ill by this point, his shirt was clinging to him from all the sweat and he thought to himself, as if he had any private thoughts, he should have taken that ride from Danny earlier. He had moved to the side of the house to sit in the shade hoping that it would be cooler there, but it didn’t help much. ‘I said,’ Daz paused as Stiles leaned his head back into the soot covered bricks near one of the basement windows, ‘that it was more advanced and you wouldn’t be able to do it alone.’ Stiles could almost hear the impatience in Daz’s usually emotionless voice. ‘That is why I was going to help you. With my energy and your direction, we should be able to pull them back from the other realm.’

Stiles wiped the sweaty hair plastered to his face away and ran his hand down his face as he chewed nervously at his lip. ‘I know you are unsure about this, but, have I not proven myself so far?’ Stiles glanced over at Daz’s form, it looked solid enough in the shade of the house, but the edges of his shadows seemed to flow outward like smoke carried by an unseen wind. “Didn’t you say that we would need some of their blood? I haven’t even been to the house to grab Derek’s shirt, and even if I can get in the bank, there is no way to tell who’s blood is who’s on the walls and floor.”   
Daz moved closer to Stiles, ‘Can’t you feel their energy here?’ Stiles tried to feel for the threads of energy in the area around him. There was something there that he thought he might be able to catch if he had the time and wasn’t sweating miserably. ‘If you can just link with that energy signature we won’t need the blood.’

It was like looking into a halloween mirror when Stiles looked at Daz. The face was the same, but it was emotionless and the eyes were just pools of darkness. He couldn’t even tell if Daz was looking into his eyes or not. It made it uncomfortable to look Daz in the eye.The dark pools shifted and a swirl of brown muddied the black, then the light shifted and glowed as the brown was framed with white. The eyes were still cold and lifeless, but they looked as real as Stiles’ own. Daz looked Stiles dead in the eyes, ‘Is this better?’ Stiles shook his head minutely but the thoughts conveyed through their mutual connection.

Daz moved away toward the trees and Stiles noticed that his now visible eyes were darting around the area, constantly on the look out for any approaching danger. ‘I would sense them long before they got close enough to see.’ Stiles recoiled slightly at the realization that his thoughts weren’t his alone, though he was getting more accustomed to it.

‘Why are you suffering through this miserable heat when you have the ability to change it?’ Stiles looked up at Daz dumbfounded. “I have been pouring sweat for the last 2 hours and you just think mention this now?” ‘Just redirect the heat from the air surrounding you to some other object. Metal or stone will hold the heat best, and try to be careful you don’t push the energy too forcefully. Wouldn’t want to get frostbite.’

Stiles started to visualize the air around him as an energy source to be redirected, he could the heat against his skin and was just about to try to shift it, ‘Why don’t we go into the basement, you can use the heat in the room to burn the markings into the floor for our circle for the spell. 'What is the old adage about birds and stones?'

Stiles didn’t realize he had made a decision to try the spell, but when Daz said it, he didn’t have any arguments left. “Okay, fine, but I need to be home before dark. This isn’t going to take long is it?” Daz looked back at Stiles, ‘It shouldn’t take that long at all.’

 

 

* * *

 

 

Allison pulled the clear filament so tight she thought it might break and slid the loop over the hook embedded in the tree. She looked at the lines set for the trap and tried to work out how the action would work, then glanced to Anne to ask, “Aren’t these kinda dangerous to just have in the middle of the park?” Anne looked up from her task tightening the other end of the line, “Only a fast moving object will have the force to trigger it, and even then, the best we are hoping for is a cut deep enough to bleed. This isn’t going to kill anyone.” She dusted her hands off on the knees of her pants, “Off road bicyclist might end up with a shallow cut. A vampire will end up with UV reactive blood exposed to direct sunlight. Then his veins will catch fire and burn until there is nothing left but a small pile of smoldering ash.” Anne’s eyes glanced off in the distance like she was watching a memory play out in her mind.

At that visual Allison shuttered and Anne glanced back at her, “If we were hunting werewolves, we have a special breed of wolfsbane to coat the lines with to slow them down, but there is no need to do that here.”

Anne pulled a handkerchief out of her pocket and wiped the sweat off her face. They had both shed several layers earlier in the day, but the temperature outside had continued to climb, and at this point they were both soaked from being out in the heat. This was the fifth trap they had set up and it wasn’t light work. It was kind of ironic that Allison had felt a little chilly this morning considering how ridiculous the heat was out. “I think its best we stop for the day and get out of the sun.” Allison felt sure that she was about to pass out any second now, so she nodded in agreement and hooked her finger around the curls that were sticking to her face and tucked them behind her ear.

As they climbed in the black SUV Anne rolled the partially open windows all the way down to try and vent the heat before switching on the air full blast. Allison felt the back of her legs sticking to the leather seats, but she was glad she had her zip off cargos on. She had changed them into shorts earlier, and was happy she had the option. “I didn’t expect it to be this hot in California.”, Anne pulled at the front of her tank top letting the current of cool air run under the fabric. Allison copied and and leaned her head back into the seat while enjoying the crisp feeling of the chilled air. “It usually isn’t this hot,” Allison murmured to the ceiling of the vehicle, “must be some kind of freak weather system.”

Allison turned her head toward Anne and noticed she was leaned back into the seat as well, but was still looking outside the vehicle. Even now, she had constant vigilance. “Why do you want the vampire dead so badly?” Allison almost felt bad letting it slip out like that, she almost wished she could reach out and pull the words back out of the air, but she braced for the angry answer she thought was coming instead.

Anne sat silent for several seconds and then let out a soft sigh before looking over to Allison’s tense face, “I would say because he killed my family,” she looked down at the center console thinking for a moment before reaching out to grip the wheel, “and that really seems like it should be enough.” Anne looked back into Allison’s eyes, in her eyes Allison could see the past that haunted her, “Doesn’t it?” Anne took a deep breath in through her nose and then looked away out the driver side glass, “But then, my family were the ones who helped kill all of his family, so,”, she wiped at the back of her neck with her hand, “maybe that seemed like enough for him to justify what he did.” Anne turned back to Allison with a forced smile, “I guess the old saying is right, an eye for an eye does leave the world blind. But Alexander is dangerous, and we have a duty to protect people. We hunt those, who hunt us.”

Allison could tell there was something that Anne wasn’t telling her about, something Allison really wanted to know.

 

 

* * *

 

 

Jimbo’s was packed to the gills with people trying to beat the heat. When Danny walked through the door, it seemed like all the seats were almost taken and several people were just standing around in the AC, their slushie drink cups already empty. Scott waved at him excitedly from a table in the back where most of the pack was gathered around two tables pushed together. It hit Danny as funny because Scott’s personality was somewhat like an excited puppy, and he was a werewolf, so he was like an excited werewolf puppy.

“Danny, back here. We saved you a seat.” He waved back and pointed to the counter to indicate he was going to order first, Ethan hopped up from the table and walked toward him. "Hey, I got yours already," Ethan pulled him in for a quick hug, Danny remembered that he probably smelled of Stiles, " I figured you would like the strawberry smoothie. I got you a large, but someone might have already had part if it." Ethan pulled back from the hug and Danny watched him nervously for any reaction that he had smelled Stiles scent on him.

Ethan leaned in and pressed a quick kiss to Danny's cheek, before pulling back and crossing his arms "come sit down, you are sweaty." Danny tucked his hands into his pocket wondering about the implication of the quick kiss, then what the closed body language might mean.

Walking back to the table he saw Scott's whole pack was there, well, all the wolves were there. Jason piped up from his seat between Scott and Isaac, "What is up with this crazy heat?" Isaac was sitting at the other end of the table from Danny and Ethan eyeing Ethan with something just short of murderous rage. Samantha was tapping at the screen of a new smartphone oblivious to the silly boys at the table. Danny thumbed toward Isaac and looked at Scott, “What’s up with Isaac?” Scott looked like he was about to break down in tears as he opened his mouth to respond but he was quickly cut off by Isaac, “Your boyfriend doesn’t know anything about self control!” Ethan looked at Danny and scoffed, “Isaac needs to learn to fight better that is all. I don’t know what Derek taught him about fighting, but I was trying to help him out.” “Help me out? You almost took my damn arm off! We are supposed to be training, not actually fighting, that means you try NOT to rip your claws through someone’s arm!” “Ah, come off it, you’ll heal, what does it matter?”

Sam looked up from her smartphone and barked in a loud whisper, “Guys, can you keep it down. We are in a public place.” She tapped the screen off and leaned in toward Danny, “Isaac is a little upset that Ethan may have been a little aggressive at training today. Though I guess he does have a little room to be pissed, you DID ruin his shirt.” Isaac butted in, “And it hurt like a bitch!”

Scott looked like he was just tired of listening to it all and barked, “Enough!” Several people in the shop jumped when he finally exploded, and almost everyone looked over. Scott winced and whispered angrily as he looked over at Ethan, “Ethan, next time we train, no claws!”, He looked back to his right at Isaac who had a momentary smug look on his face was eyeing Ethan, “but he is right Isaac,” the smug look fell off his face, “you need as much training as possible and Ethan and Aiden have different approach to things than Derek may have.” He looked across the table and noticed that Sam looked like she was about to bolt at any second, he softened his tone and continued, “We all need to work together, that is the point of being in a pack.”

Sam pressed her chair back from the table making an awful screeching noise as the chair legs drug across the floor. She didn’t look up from her phone as she held on to it with a tight grip. “I hate when you get that Alpha tone in your voice, it makes my nerves stand on end.” She stuffed the phone in her back pocket, “I’m going to the bathroom.” Jason was looking at Isaac and said, “It is really is an odd sensation. Not entirely unpleasant though, just kind of intense.” “Sorry guys, I just can’t handle all the arguing. I didn’t even mean to do that. I haven’t really gotten a handle on how I do it.” Danny glanced around the table and noticed that none of them were making eye contact with Scott as he talked, then he started to look up at Scott and something instinctual stopped him.

“I’ve just been under a lot of pressure lately, and I really need to learn more about being an Alpha.” Scott looked over at Ethan and Danny took a quick glance at Scott’s eyes while he wasn’t looking at him. “Scott,” Danny slid his sunglasses across the table to him, “your eyes.” Scott snatched the glasses looking at his reflection, blazing red irises stared back and he quickly put them on. “Maybe you can help me out with the nuances of being an Alpha, Ethan?” Ethan still didn’t make eye contact. Scott glanced around the table and the only one looking at him was Danny, “What is up with you guys?” “Sam just defied you in front of the pack. It makes you look weak to let her walk away like that.” He blew a breath out of his nostrils and continued, “The rest of us are still instinctually submitted waiting for you to snap out of Alpha mode.” Ethan sounded like he was gritting his teeth.

Scott looked around the table again, “Are you being serious right now?” Danny looked away from Scott but kept trying to look back, “Honestly, its a little difficult for me to look you in the face too. Even with the glasses on.” Scott took a deep breath and tried to calm himself, but he wasn’t really agitated anymore. “I don’t know how.”

Ethan turned his head toward Scott but didn’t look up from the table. “Our wolves are waiting.” Scott interrupted, “For what?” “for punishment, instruction, or praise. You just need to do something to break the state.” Scott turned his hands palm up and looked at Danny shrugging his shoulders, “Like what?” Danny watched as Ethan flexed the muscle in his jaw, “Just touch each of us.”

Scott reached out and poked his finger into Ethan’s scalp. “Like this?” Ethan shook his head, “No, like you are claiming us, like a scent marking.” Scott looked at his hand and then rubbed his palm against the skin behind Ethan’s ear and down his neck. Ethan looked up into his eyes, “Don’t take the glasses off just yet. You need to do each of us first, but, and I don’t want to tell you what to do, you probably shouldn’t praise Sam’s bad behavior.” Scott ruffed his hand through Jason’s hair and reached across the table to rub his fingers up Isaac’s forearm. He noticed the blush flush across his cheek.

“Do I need to touch Danny too?” He looked over at Ethan and lifted his eyebrows. Ethan shook his head no, “He isn’t technically a part of the pack, but having your scent on him makes him more included.” Scott reached over and rubbed his hand over Danny’s arm, “Well, we want Danny to feel included too.” Danny could feel his heightened sense of tension melt away. Scott pulled the sunglasses down and looked at Danny questioningly. Ethan spoke up, “Your eyes may be back to normal, but Sam is still on high alert. Aiden would probably suggest punishment if he were here, but I would say instruction might be a better idea.”

Scott pulled the shades off and pushed them gently back to Danny, “What do I say to her?” It was Ethan’s turn to shrug his shoulders, “I can’t tell you that, just tell her what you expect from her and if she is accepting of your lead, things will be a lot easier.”

 

It was weird waiting outside the women’s bathroom waiting on Sam to come out, he started talking to the first girl that came out by mistake, she looked at him like he was a stalker and Sam yelled out the door at him just before it closed. “Are you standing guard outside the door?” Scott pulled the door open just enough to talk back through the crack. “Sam, please, just come out so I can talk to you.” He heard the water turn on and splashing before the thump of the paper towel dispenser.

When the door opened she was looking at the floor. Scott stepped around the corner and she followed, “Look, I’m new at this, I don’t know how everything works, but I am learning and working on it. Sam,” He could tell she started to look up and stopped. She balled her hands up in fists in irritation and Scott reached out and wrapped his hands around her’s, “just trust me, we will get through all this together. Okay?” Her hands relaxed in his, “I’ll have Ethan explain what happened, and I’ll work on being more aware of when I am using it and how to use it properly.”

Sam looked up and lifted one corner of her mouth in a half smile. “Good, because I like to be in control of myself, not under the control of some freaking primal instincts.” Scott brushed his palm against the side of Sam’s neck as they headed back toward the table and she leaned into the warmth.

Scott’s phone chimed.

 

Alan to Scott: I need to meet up with you, Stiles and Allison. Can you come by the clinic around 7:30?

Scott to Alan: I’ll be there.

 

 

* * *

 

 

Peter pushed open his apartment door and reached inside the darkness to flip the light switch. The stale air in the apartment holds no hint of Derek or Cora. That really was his last hope, that he would walk in and find them here, he had just went on a trip to New York for nothing, but the whole situation was still a nightmare. He walked in the living room area to the bar and dropped the emergency copy of the door key on the counter. His emergency key and the vile goodwill clothing that smelled like far too many people for him to be comfortable wearing them an hour longer, were the only things he brought with him back from his trip.  He stripped out of the tee the second the door closed behind him, and dropped it in the garbage on his way through the kitchen.

He pulled the scotch decanter off the bar and poured a generous amount into a tumbler and replaced the crystal stopper. He held the scotch under his nose for a moment, his enhanced sense of smell really payed off when breathing in the aroma. The plane ride had been an interesting experience. Running into an old schoolmate made him yearn for the memories from long ago.

It seemed like his teenage years were so very long ago now. They were locked inside a vault, the memories of the fire were always there blocking his way to better, sweeter memories.

He pressed the lip of his glass to his lips and tossed his head back and swallowed the warm liquid quickly. Drinking to get drunk was a waste of time, but this scotch at least gave his stomach a warm feeling.

Peter held the glass to his lips as he looked across the room to the calendar hanging on the wall. All that time wasted for nothing. He slammed the glass down on the counter, it shattered, shards of glass cutting into his hand. “Damn, it.” he growled. Things hadn’t been working in his favor in awhile. He held his hand over the counter trying to keep the blood from dripping on the light carpet in his apartment. The wounds healed quickly, but not as quickly as they had when he was Alpha.

He was meant to be the Alpha. He just had to find a way to get that power back again. He needed the power, his list still had one more name on it. It was the one name he wanted most of all. All the other pawns in the game, even Kate, were nothing. The Queen still moved across the board unhindered. He would do anything to be the one to feel the last beats of her stuttering heart in the palm of his hand.

 

 

* * *

 

 

Jonathan was pouring a cup of coffee, if you could call this sludge, coffee, from the pot in the lobby, which he was sure had been sitting there all day when a small framed woman busted through the front doors and made a beeline for the reception desk. Her hair was a mess of half curly, partially straightened locks that she kept pushing out of her face to lean across the desk trying to get the attention of the officer who was on the phone.

She was sobbing as she called out, “I need to report a missing person! Please, my daughter, Winter, she should be home and I don’t know what he might have done to her after she talked back to him..so help me, if he hurt my baby..” Jonathan stepped quickly up beside her and set his coffee down on the counter to reach out and touch her arm in as calming a manner as he could.

"I'm Sheriff Stilinski, please, calm down and tell me what happened. What who might have done to her?" Her name tag said Amy and eyes said panic, "Chuck, Chuck Gregory. Winter said they had argued last night and Chuck left, but I doubt that was the end of it. Chuck, he," Amy looked at the Sheriff like she was watching what she said, "well, he's a man, he can have a bit of a temper."

Jonathan could tell the type of "man" Chuck was by the greenish week old bruise under Amy's eye, she was trying poorly to cover up with concealer. "Have you tried calling either of them?" "Winter doesn't have a phone but Chuck's phone just rings until it goes to voicemail. Please, if you can just send an officer to his apartment to check and see it Winter is there." Amy pulled her purse back up onto her shoulder from where it was starting to fall. “I would go over there myself, but I am,” she looked around the station like she was about to say something offensive, “I… don’t know what he might do if I accuse him of something.”

Jonathan leaned in slowly and put his hand on her shoulder softly, “Please, come sit in my office and I will have dispatch send someone out to his place.” The officer behind the desk nodded at Jonathan’s instruction. “Do you want some coffee?” Amy looked into his cup and shook her head no. “But just in case she isn't there, is there anywhere else she might have gone? Any friends she might be visiting? Other family?"

She looked back up to the Sheriff’s face and shook her head again. “No, Winter is unusual and has a hard time making friends. She is albino, and is really sensitive to sunlight, so she doesn’t go out during the day. It is just the two of us since her father took off. She stays home all the time and reads.”

Just as Jonathan opened the door to his office to let Amy sit down somewhere out of the noise of the station his phone rang. He pulled it out of his pocket wondering who would be calling him on his personal line. Probably Stiles looking all over the house for the keys to his Jeep. He looked at the display, Alan Deaton calling.

“Sheriff Stilinski, what can I do for you Alan?” there was a smile in his voice, the vet was someone that Jonathan actually enjoyed as a person. “Actually, Sheriff, its what I can do for you, but, I can’t seem to accomplish it without getting in touch with your son.” Alan was his usual snarky self. “What seems to be the problem, can’t be his cell phone, that boy is glued to it like nobody’s business.” Alan cleared his throat a little, “Actually yes, I got in touch with Allison and Scott, but Stiles hasn’t replied. I was able to get the..” He paused a moment and Jonathan heard a chime in the distance and him talking to someone else in the background, “Hello Mrs. Mathis, I’ll be with you in just a moment… I got his present, but can’t seem to get in touch with him. If you can just let him know to come by the clinic around 7:30. I will get back with you later.” “You got it Alan, I’ll find out what is going on.”

He immediately dialed Stiles’ phone number and it went straight to voicemail. He tilted his head back and sighed heavily. Sometimes being a single parent was hard, and then, Stiles didn’t make things any easier on him. Jonathan slid the phone back into his pocket, great, now there were two missing kids. He was going to have to send someone by to check on Stiles too.

 

 

* * *

 

  
  


"You said this wasn't going to take very long," Stiles grumbled noticing the clouds in the sky, outside the iron barred windows, painted with violet shades.

He could feel the energy of heat pressing against the thin panes of the basement window, but it was considerably cooler inside after Daz helped him channel the heat and use it as a tool. He was sitting cross-legged a foot or so away from the wall, a mass of lines strewn across the floor in front of him. Daz watched from the corner and walked back and forth across the design checking the lines. Stiles noted that Daz was much more solid in the shadows of the basement and grew even more so as the sky outside darkened.

'I didn't realize, at the time, that I was going to give you lessons, and stopping to explain every single step in the process wasn't something I had calculated for.'

Stiles HAD been asking a lot of questions about the process, but the symbols were all so new and he was curious about the reasoning for the layout, the geometry and everything. The odd thing, that he was sure his wraith-like companion knew he was still contemplating in the back of his mind, was the vision Daz had given him when he asked what he was supposed to draw.

It felt odd when he closed his eyes to meditate as Daz instructed, and he looked down into a book sitting in his mother's lap. He was looking through her eyes at the aged pages, her hands grasped the pages firmly, her legs crossed I'm the same fashion Stiles was sitting now, and it was covered in notes written in his Mom's tight script. The strength of the memory caught Stiles unexpectedly and it hurt in the best sort of way. When the vision of the spellbook was perfectly clear in his mind, he could even smell her perfume hanging on the air, it was like she was right there with him.

'I planned to come down here and perform most of the casting alone and let you watch, but you do need to learn. And this is how you will learn.' Stiles was really starting to feel it from all the energy shifting he had done, but the floor was nearly complete. Daz was insistent that the circles had to be perfect and double checked them after each was lined on the floor. The heat left scorch marks on the cement, but they could be wiped off easily as he learned earlier on in the evening.

Daz moved behind him to look over his shoulder and survey the scorches across the polished surface and its complex series of circles, runes and binding. 'This should do perfectly, now a drop of your blood on the middle of this pentacle, and we can get started.' Stiles closed his eyes and searched for the book sitting in his mother's lap. 'it's good that you check up on yourself, something you should always do.

Stiles' back stiffened when he felt the presence of Daz's grip on his shoulder. It felt strange and out of place, an affectionate touch a friend would use to comfort, or a mentor with pride in their pupil.

'Do you want me to take it from here?' The touch disappeared and Stiles thought about it for a second, he really wanted to be the one to do it. He had done all the marking, why not follow through and finish. Daz read the thoughts as Stiles formed them,'Okay,' Stiles felt a quick prick at his finger and whipped his head around to see Daz drawing back a clawed finger and a drop of blood welling at the pad of his index finger.

'Mannaz rune inside the pentacle, carefully, you can't wipe off blood and try a second time.’Stiles drew the first lines and had to squeeze his finger to get more blood to well. ‘Now, close your eyes and feel for the pulse.' Stiles felt Daz place his hand over Stiles’ and moved it to the cool floor, ‘Place your right hand here and try to channel the energy from me into the circle. Slow and steady.’ Stiles was distracted at the touch of the shadows on his skin. It was so odd a sensation, ‘Pay attention.’ Daz growled inside his mind, and Stiles settled into the meditative state he had practiced in the hospital.

 

* * *

 

 

Lydia came out of her trance listening to the sound of her own scream reverberating off the walls around her. She stopped her screaming as soon as she realized what she was doing. She looked around the small apartment and then down to her feet. As soon as she realized what it was that was laying at her feet, she pressed her palm against her mouth stifling her non-supernatural scream as she stepped away from what was left of the body.

Her breath caught in her chest as the scenery unfolded as she slowly turned. The dried blood on the bones jutting out at awkward angles gave the body a rusted color. The corpse was missing a large portion of the mass, including what looked like all but one leg. She glanced around the room at the broken furniture and decorations. The TV was smashed in, a spider web across the screen with a candy apple red colored center. She swallowed slowly when noted what she assumed was an arm hanging off the bookshelf in the corner. Blood was everywhere, she realized thankfully that it was all dried.

She pulled her phone out and for once she was not sure who to call first. She ignored the missed calls and texts and quickly selected Stiles' name from the call list and her call went straight to voicemail. “Shit.” She stopped herself from looking back at the remains on the floor. She pulled the call list back up and scrolled through, should she call Allison, maybe Scott, or should she just call 911. Why was this such a hard decision? She hovered over Allison’s name for a second and then she hit Scott’s name. She pulled the phone up to her ear and waited for the call to connect.

The ring on her phone was followed quickly by a phone ringing nearby. The door to the apartment swung open and Scott stepped through the door his eyes glowing red, “Out now! The police are on their way up the elevator.” He grabbed Lydia by the arm and pulled her out the door closing the door with his hand wrapped in the edge of his shirt. He pulled Lydia close to his side and walked along the corridor toward the stairwell. He pushed the door open and pulled Lydia inside and pressed both of them against the wall. “The elevator just opened, I think we are good.” His eyes were still glowing red as he listened to the two officers walking down the hallway.

“Should I even ask how you got here so quickly?” Lydia whispered. “I heard your scream.” He pushed her back into the wall behind him and paused for a second, “Funny thing is, I’m pretty sure everyone in this building heard, but I doubt it is out of the ordinary for them to hear. I was only a couple miles away. What I don’t understand is why the police were here so fast. On the way up I saw them, so I took the stairs and found your scent.” He looked back at her his eyes shifted from red to their typical dark chocolate, “We should get out of here, they just found the body. Oh, and you need to call Aiden, Ethan said he was worried sick about you and apparently your Mom sprayed him in the face with pepper spray.”

Lydia stepped out of the stairwell into the parking lot next to the apartment building, she was surprised at the time difference between earlier and now. How long had she been in a trance? "Where is your Mom's car? Or did you ride your bike?" Scott pushed the rusted door back closed, the metal against cement sounded like nails across a blackboard and flakes of rust scattered across the sidewalk, "actually, I ran, was hoping you could give me a ride. I'm supposed to meet up with Deaton in a couple minutes." Lydia huffed out a heavy sigh, "I just found a dead body Scott. Doesn't that give me a pass for the rest of the day?" Scott's puppy dog eyes were nearly impossible to say no to, Lydia huffed, "Fine, get in."

 

* * *

 

 

Stiles found the energy signature Daz was talking about, pretty quickly at that. It had to be something associated with the Hale family living here for so long, or their supernatural heritage that made it so strong. He could feel the divide between the two worlds, and the constant flow of energy from the dark cord of Daz in his mind. It took even more energy from Daz to follow the pulse once the veil was breached.

Daz whisper calmly in the darkness, "Don't push so hard Stiles, this is powerful magic you are channeling." His thoughts were read as he was forming them, "I know how eager you are to have him...them, safe. But pushing too hard is dangerous. Slow and steady wins the race."

The scream hit Stiles like a physical wall, no, like a tidal wave crashing over him. He fought the urge to pull his hand from the cool concrete and cover his ears as he was enveloped in the sound and it echoed deep in the recesses of his mind. It was hard to concentrate and control the flow of power from Daz.

Daz sounded like he was screaming over the shrill chaos, 'Banshee screams pass through the divide and echo throughout telluric currents like ripples across the surface of calm water. It will pass in a few moments.'

The scream wavered and rebounded, first waning and then hit again in full force, then Stiles was sure he felt Derek's presence at the edge of his reach. The magic flowing from Daz had built as Stiles slowed the flow in his confusion and he pressed it forward trying to right the imbalance and use the power to press toward Derek's energy. The banshee scream made its way past again not quite as strong as before, and Stiles fought again trying not to lift his hand from the circle.

He pulled at the well of energy and wielded like a compass trying to point toward Derek. 'Stiles, you are pushing too hard.' He focused the magic imagining it forming a hand reaching out into the darkness in the realm beyond the veil, feeling toward Derek. He was so close, he could almost feel Derek's heartbeat at his fingertips, he tried to open the channel wider to control the stream of magic.

'Stiles!' The warning came only a second before searing pain tore down his shoulder, through his forearm and out the tips of his fingers. It felt like the bones in his arm cracked open like logs on a fire.

The hand he had formed in his mind closed and he pulled his actual hand back from the circle to hold close to his chest. He opened his watering eyes to inspect his arm which he assumed would be flayed open like he had stuck it into a woodchipper, but it was still completely whole. Thank God he wasn't going to bleed out in the Hale's basement, or have to explain the new hospital visit to his Dad. His fingers trembled and hand twitched and the pain was still aching in his joints.

'I told you to be careful!' Daz actually sounded angry, seriously, genuinely angry, it reminded Stiles of his father anytime he got into serious trouble and nearly killed himself, no, more like his Mom's approach, she was calm to a point and then lost it. Daz sounded like he was controlling his thoughts to make him seem more calm, 'That's going to hurt for awhile. Pretty much the magic equivalent of getting struck by lightning.'

Stiles inspected his arm more closely. "Did it work?" He noted a bright red web of erratic welting across his elbow and part of his forearm. 'Do you see them standing here?' Stiles wasn't sure he liked this new side of Daz. "No, I just didn't know, .. You know what, I have to get home. Dad will probably have sent a patrol by to check on me since I never turned my phone back on." He turned his hand over and hissed as he painfully opened his fingers, the skin was actually charred black in places. "Fuck!" Stiles swore looking down at the blisters across his palm. "Guess my sex life is going to be interesting for a few weeks.”

He pulled his phone out with his left hand and powered it on expecting a couple missed calls from his Dad and was surprised at the number of texts and missed calls he had. "Lydia called, I guess that explains the scream.. I wonder what was up with that? I'm supposed to meet Dr. Deaton at the clinic in, crap! Going to have to run if I plan on making that, and Dad said if I figured out how to hotwire my Jeep, I'm grounded." He stood from the floor and stretched his back which was stiff after sitting on the cold, concrete floor for so long. 'I still don't trust that man Stiles.' Stiles slid the phone back in his pocket and surveyed the markings,“Should we just leave this all here?” Daz looked at the floor, ‘You plan on trying again.’ It wasn’t a question, ‘so unless you feel like drawing it all again, yes.’

 

 

* * *

 

 

Alan was sure that he had turned the sign on the door around to “CLOSED”, so when the bell rang he was surprised and slightly annoyed, but perhaps someone had an emergency. It was way too early for any of the trio to show up for their talismans.

He stepped out of the back to the unfortunate sight of Peter Hale standing in his waiting area. He was suddenly glad that he had closed the gate sealing the office from werewolf invasion. “Peter, to what do I owe the honor?”

“Alan,” his voice was raspy and he coughed fiercely and Alan caught the blood on his lip before Peter’s tongue darted out to lick it away. “I need you to take a look at something for me,” he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “You see, I was in a pretty nasty car accident, and seem to be still working out the little details, if you know what I mean.”

Alan crossed his arms across his chest and held his passive face standing just behind the mountain ash wooden gate. Peter smiled his perfect even toothed dazzling grin. “As emissary to the Hale clan, you have a duty to perform druid. You swore your allegiance to Talia years ago. You can’t just walk away from your responsibilities.” He coughed again, this time spitting out a small piece of material that clicked across the tile flooring.

It was Alan’s turn to smile, “Without an Alpha, the Hale family has no pack Peter. You know I have no obligation to you without a pack.” Peter’s smile faltered and his eyes darkened. He paced along the edge of the counter rubbing a finger along the edge of the wood, barely pressing into the barrier’s edge. “Alan, we have always been civil toward one another, I would hate for this situation to become one that was a little more unsavory.” With the last word he carved his claw into the wood peeling a curl of wood from the counter’s edge, a shower of blue sparks danced off the druid’s barrier.

Alan reached forward to place a hand on the gate and pressed his tongue between his lips wetting them nervously. He jerked the gate forward breaking the seal and lifted the corner of his lips in a soft smile, “I, however, would never turn away a person in pain. Come on back and let’s take a look.”

 

 

* * *

 

 

"It doesn't make any sense sir, the body looked like it was torn apart by wild animals, but the furniture was all over the place like someone picked him up and slammed him into several things. The TV is mounted on the wall, no way he could have fallen into in.I didn’t even know there was that much blood in one body. It was all over everything!" Jonathan's officer was sitting in his office holding a cup of black coffee with both hands, his eyes were still panicked from the crime scene. "Calm down Gates, just let the CSI agents do their job and we'll figure this out."

Some officers just couldn't make the cut, especially lately here in Beacon Hills. Jonathan worried that Gates wasn’t going to make it. He had thrown up at the crime scene, right next to the body, his partner on the other hand had been on the force for several years now. Officer Stone moved Gates out of the room before calling it in. Jonathan called Agent McCall as soon as the call came in. It sounded like something that went along with the string of murders that had the FBI agents combing through the town. He almost wished that Derek was still in town, maybe he could shed some light on the subject.

Seth knocked at the office door and opened it enough to look in at the Sheriff, “Can we talk?” Jonathan looked at the shaken officer and leaned across the desk to speak a little softer, “Gates, why don’t you wash up and take the rest of the day off, Stone can write up the report.” Officer Gates looked up like he had just won the lottery, “Thank you sir, I… I really appreciated it.” He hopped up from the seat to walk toward the door, “Gates.” the Sheriff barked before he walked passed Seth, “I’m setting you an appointment with the counselor.” Gates looked like he was about to argue and Jonathan lifted his eyebrows. “Yeah, that is probably a good idea sir.”

Gates walked out the door and Seth pulled the door closed. He looked at Jonathan and tucked a folder under his arm pulling a single piece of paper out looking down to study it. “As disturbing as this new murder is, it doesn’t line up with the serial killer’s typical kills.” He looked up from the paper to the desk where Sheriff Stilinski sat. “It looks like you have another killer on your hands, or… what was the issue several months ago? A rabid mountain lion?” The obvious disbelief seethed through his tone. “I have,” he ran his fingers through his hair and scratched at the back of his head for a moment choosing whether to say what he was thinking or not, “a suspicion.” Seth walked over and gripped the seat that Gates had been sitting in He tossed the folder on the corner of the desk, not offering it to Jonathan to read, just dropping it out of his hands. “It feels like there is more going on in this town than I know, and,” Seth scooted the chair closer to the desk and sat down. He took the paper in his hand, Jonathan saw was a photo, and slid it across the desk, "I think you know more than you are letting show."

Jonathan looked down at the picture, one grainy shot of a man leaving the condos where the Argent's and Deucalion had been staying. "Am I supposed to know who this is?" His heart was beating a little faster but he was playing it cool. He pressed the photo back across the desk without making a face. "The person is our killer, honestly the best shot we have gotten of him, but the place is the more important. Your friend Chris Argent lives in that building."

The Sheriff breathed a little easier, "So do twenty some other families, that's less than nothing to go on." Seth was leaned on the desk fingers tucked under his chin, “That’s also where the Carter boy are staying,” he kept staring down Jonathan like he expected him to spill like a rookie criminal. “Interestingly enough, they have been hanging out with your sons lately.” It was shocking to hear Seth spit it out so blatantly emphasising the ‘s’ on Jonathan’s sons. Jonathan broke eye contact and looked back to the folder on the edge of the desk. "We should be working together to bring this guy in, if you know something, you should tell me."

Jonathan leaned forward to push the picture under Seth's elbows and reached to pick the phone off the receiver. Seth might be a fed, but considering how floored he was when he found out about all this supernatural stuff, Jonathan knew that telling anyone outside of Beacon Hills about it was a bad idea. "I'll keep that in mind. If you'll excuse me, I have a counselor to call."

Seth stood, pushing the chair out with his calves. The Sheriff lifted the photo off the desk, "Don't forget your picture." Seth stepped towards the door, "Keep it, I have plenty of other pictures. Besides, you might want to show that around to your officers. Let them know he is dangerous and to contact us as soon as he is sighted."

Only after Seth slammed the door behind him did Jonathan notice the folder still sitting on the corner of his desk. The cover said ‘CONFIDENTIAL’, but over the past year, Jonathan learned that sometimes, it was best to bend the rules when necessary.

 

 

* * *

 

 

As they were on the way to the clinic Lydia watched the lightning spider across the clouds high in the sky. Scott was randomly changing the radio stations and turning it up and then back down to try to talk. She couldn’t shake the way it felt to lose yourself in a trance and drive twenty minutes across town to find yourself standing in front of a ravaged cadaver. Human anatomy class just didn’t depict internal organs like they were in real life. But I guess when they were external, internal organs, they probably didn’t look the same.

She glanced back to the sky. None of the rain falling from the high clouds would ever get to the ground, the air was far too dry and hot. Lydia looked back over to Scott as he reached up to turn the radio back down again, “So, I have no idea who the other people were, there were a lot of scents in the house, but one of them was definitely pack, but, like I said, everyone was with me all day. I just don’t get it.” Scott was still running though the man’s apartment with her like they were going to come up with an explanation.

“It sounds to me like you have another pack member that just happens to be a raving psychopath.” Scott frowned at her from the passenger seat and she looked back to the road momentarily distracted by her glistening fingernails as she adjusted her grip on the wheel, “And I have to tell you, I am getting tired of being the one to find these dead bodies in progressively worse states.I mean seriously! Where was his head?”

Scott folded his arms across his chest, “I don’t believe that my any of my pack would have done anything like that, but… if they did it is just because they aren’t in control. They need the pack to anchor them.” It was almost adorable watching him pout.

“Scott, you were the one that said one of the scent’s smelled like pack. I am just trying to connect the dots. How many scent’s did you smell?” They were pulling up to the clinic and Lydia smiled when she recognized Allison’s car. “Hard to tell, a lot of people have been in and out of the apartment. I would say recently maybe 6 different people, it’s odd though, at least one person smelled like they worked at a hospital.”

Lydia pulled into the handicap space in the front and Scott scoffed, “Handicapped.” Lydia pulled the door handle and pushed the door open, “Scott, the clinic is closed. It’s not like someone is going to need the space.” She hopped out of the car and Allison was standing there looking at the sign and back to the car, “Oh my God you two were meant for each other. No one else is going to be parking here.” She walked around to the other side of the car and pulled open the rear passenger side door to lean in and rifle through her bag.

Allison looked at Scott as he stood on the other side of the car, “What is she talking about?” Scott pointed to the sign, “I told her she shouldn’t park here, and then that was the first thing you said.” Allison smirked a little, “Oh.” Scott watched her smirk and smiled himself until Allison noticed him watching her and his smile quickly fell off his face. “What? You aren’t allowed to smile?” Lydia popped back up out of her bag and was smoothing lip gloss across her lips. “I just didn’t want to seem like I was trying to flirt with you.” Scott said looking back to Lydia and he cocked an eyebrow at her applying makeup. “A girl has to look her best.”

Lydia snapped her attention back to Allison, “So, any reason why you are waiting out in your car and not, say, in the waiting area perhaps?” Allison folded her arms across her chest and leaned back into the door of her car, “I was early and the door was still locked, so I figured I would just wait, though now that I don’t need this silly charm anymore, I don’t really know why I am sticking around.”

Scott hopped up on the door facing and leaned across the top of the car, “What do you mean? You haven’t been seeing your Aunt anymore?” Allison shook her head softly with a slight lift of her chin and bottom lip, almost a uncaring frown. Scott dropped off the door edge and pushed the door closed on his way around the front of the car, “But, aren’t you afraid she might come back, I mean, the last time I saw you, you broke out in a cold sweat just thinking about her.”

Allison’s  eyes drifted up to the right as the haunting memories of her Aunt replayed in her mind. She didn’t know why she had finally gone away, but she felt certain that she was never going to see her again. Lydia leaned back down into the back seat to dig in her purse again and Allison reached out to pull the front of Scott’s shirt toward her, “You aren’t allowed to flirt, but you are allowed to worry about me?” She smiled playfully and brushed her knuckles up his chest to run her finger softly along his jawline and brush across his cheek, barely touching the corner of his mouth before pulling her hand away.

Scott swallowed hard and noticed a slight difference in Allison’s pupils as they dilated, her scent was much more distinct as an Alpha and even more difficult to resist. Almost as if she could tell what Scott was thinking Allison brushed her fingers back through her damp curls, the smell of her skin in the evening heat blossomed in the air like a mushroom cloud of raw teenage hormones.

Allison leaned her head back suddenly bumping into the car door, “Scott.” She slid her hand behind her back and Scott realized his mouth was hanging open and quickly shut it. “Sorry, you smell nice-” “I was just checking to see if you were in control.” She moved to the side gesturing to the glass and Scott caught sight of his eyes in the window. His eyes were ringed in a molten ring, but not quite shifted.

Scott quickly thought that he needed to get a distraction going, “Yeah, the door, I have a key to that. We should go insi-” He stopped to sniff at the soft breeze, Allison’s skin still hung mixed with the scents slowly stirring in the heated evening air, but he could have sworn he smelled something else. “Do either of you smell smoke?”

 

 

* * *

 

 

The blinds had been turned so no one could see in his office as he planned on nonchalantly looking through the folder, but he had gotten up to lock the door after he reached a certain point in the mountain of evidence. The Sheriff’s desk was covered in photos of Stiles and Scott, along with Allison and Chris, Lydia, the Carver boys, Deucalion’s pack, Derek’s pack, Jennifer, and the majority of them with Derek’s brooding face somewhere in the picture. They even had photos with Jonathan in them looking as though he was associating with the criminals.

The photos were from as far back as the murder investigation for Laura Hale, and it seemed that the net of people that Derek associated with was cast seriously wide hoping to catch anyone connected him. Notes in the file indicated the mysterious deaths in New York being tied to a community of people living near the state park. They had been trying to get an Agent inside the group for years thinking they could get info from them, but they never could place anyone in the group. Seemed like they always could tell a lie. Jonathan connected the dots quickly enough. The pack in New York had to keep a low profile for any of the deaths of or caused by the hunters.

Derek was a person of interest in several missing person’s cases and when he had followed his sister to Beacon Hills, the Feds had put a person on the case to follow and observe. Thankfully most of the pictures had horrible lens flare around most of the group and were almost always taken from far off with a telephoto lens. Only a few of them had partially shifted, but you could only tell if you knew what to look for.

Jonathan was reading through the copious notes hand written in the a horrible scrawling cursive. The folder was full of comments marking the suspicious disappearance of some of the key group members and noted never hearing about the local police finding a body. Only after Jennifer’s disappearance did the Agent tie the loose ends together and figure out that Jennifer was the killer.

Stiles, the local Sheriff’s son, was noted as being at a lot of the crime scenes before and after events happening. It looked as though the Agent was either associated with or knew about the DA’s son being Jackson because his name was never even brought up, and Scott’s name never had Agent McCall’s last name on the reports. Talk about bias in an official report.

This was bad news for keeping the pack’s supernatural secret. Jonathan needed to talk to Agent McCall immediately. And hopefully the agent who took the pictures would be completely oblivious as well, otherwise the town secret would be all over the FBI’s radar. Maybe he should run it by Scott first and let him talk to his father, or- what would Seth be to Scott at this point? Jonathan sighed, this was all so complicated.

A knock at the door had him shoving the contents back into the folder, “Just a minute.” He jumped up from his seat and tried to organize the chaotic photos into a neat pile. He hoped that Seth didn’t come back looking for his folder, because it was obvious that he had been reading through it. He eyed the messy contents of the folder and mashed the manila folder down hoping to crush some of the bulk and laid it back on the corner of his desk. It was so obvious, so ridiculously obvious, he pleaded with the heavens not to let it be Seth coming back to get his folder.

He paused at the door and the person on the other side knocked again. He let his hand rest against the door for a second and tried to center himself with a calming breath. He twisted the lock and pulled the door open. “Hey,” Deputy Graeme smiled from the other side of the door. It still shocked him how much Shelly looked like her sister Tara. Jonathan couldn’t talk her out of applying for Beacon Hills to follow in her sister’s footsteps after the murder, and he couldn’t afford to refuse a deputy with her talents.

“Taking a nap sir?” she smiled already comfortable joking with the Sheriff after working here only a couple weeks. He looked back to the desk noting the folder and then back to Shelly, “Actually yeah, I have been burning the candle at both ends lately and it is really catching up with me.”

Shelly leaned back into a comfortable slouch, “Well, I ran by your place like you asked, to check up on Stiles, I even borrowed the key that you so stealthily conceal in the pot of fake flowers by the back door. Jonathan rolled his eyes and leaned his head back, “You know he is a teenage boy right? Walking in on a teenager unexpectedly might leave you mentally scarred.” It was Shelly’s turn to roll her eyes, “LIKE, I was saying. I borrowed your key and checked the whole house. Don’t look like he ever made it home from the hospital, your note warning him about “no driving and I will ground you for until college” was still on the kitchen table. Called the hospital to follow up and the girl who rolled him to the door said she didn’t see who picked him up.”

“Okay, thanks Shelly.” Jonathan leaned into the door blocking the view of his desk, “I will track him down.” Shelly slotted her hands onto her curvy hips, “I drove by the diner too, he wasn’t there either. And he wasn’t at the comic book store either.” She frowned a little, “That boy sure is a handful.” Jonathan could see where this was heading and smiled, gritting his teeth, “I think Tara is, well, was right about you needing to get some help. Maybe a certain nurse I catch you watching.”

Jonathan winced his eyes crinkling closed and he pressed his forehead into the door facing, “Not you too. Tara never would stop riding my ass about asking her out.” He opened his eyes and Shelly lifted her eyebrows staring him down, “I will, now just isn’t a good time.” Shelly leaned closer and put her hand on his as he held the door knob, “Now rarely is a good time, but you can’t stand still just because the world is moving around you. World ain’t ever gonna stop spinning.”

Jonathan’s phone started ringing and he pulled it out without looking at the display, “Gotta take this Shelly,” she smiled somberly and turned to walk away shaking her head, “Sheriff Stilinski, how can I-” “Don’t worry too much about the pictures of your boys getting you into too much trouble.” Seth’s voice sounded like he was winded a little. “The Agent keeping tabs on Hale is under my command.” Jonathan didn’t even bother trying to lie that he hadn’t looked at the files. He pushed the door back closed and leaned back into the frame. He realized he still had not said anything when Seth cleared his throat, “My sneaking suspicions keep getting more and more solid Sheriff.” Jonathan finally found his voice, “I think we might need to have that talk after all.”

 

 

* * *

 

 

Daz was literally vibrating as Stiles listened to his growl inside his mind. “I thought you said the fire was clear this way?” Stiles wailed at him. He was trying to stay low but the smoke was everywhere. The smoke was acrid, burning his throat and his eyes were watering like crazy and he could barely talk for coughing. ‘It WAS clear, something is out there starting new fires.’ Stiles couldn’t talk out loud without hacking up a lung but talking in his head was faster anyway.

He pressed his shirt into his mouth and tried to breath through the fabric, ‘don’t you mean someONE?’ Daz gripped Stiles bicep and pulled him up and back the way they had came from, ‘no, someTHING! Something YOU pulled back from the fae realm.’ Daz release his grip on Stiles’ arm and pressed forward. ‘I thought you said they would be standing there?’ Daz gripped his hand in tight balls and the smoke cleared from a small space but only for a moment and the wind filled the clean air with smoke again. ‘You didn’t pull them back to the circle, just across the veil. They are supposed to be pulled into the circle so that you can contain them. THIS is what happens when you don’t!’ Stiles tripped over a branch and lost his balance, he caught himself gripping a sapling with his blistered hand tearing open the charred skin and he hissed in pain. His hand poured blood across the moss covered bark and he quickly wrapped his bleeding palm with his t shirt, but he was still trying to use it to filter the air he was breathing.

They had been at been at this for 20 minutes, the smell of smoke was almost overwhelming as soon as Stiles got 300 yards from the Hale house, but Daz thought it would be okay and they could get past the fire before it got close, they needed to get out of the area before the Hale house was caught up in the fire too. Stiles could feel the lines of energy that Daz was pushing out into the woods as he tested the paths ahead, he could also sense the erratic energy from the fire but it was wild and untamed power that wasn’t going to submit to his will, not without a fight. He could even faintly sense the tree he had bled on, it almost felt like the tree was afraid knowing the fire was on its way to consume it. Stiles knew he wasn’t going to be able to harness the fire, not after the summoning ritual, Stiles felt like he was already spent. This was it, this was how he was going to die, and they would have to identify his charred body from his dental records.

Daz clawed into the tree’s bark, and across Stiles blood, “SIT!” the shade’s voice cracked off the trees, an angry shout. Stiles plopped down in the leaves afraid of what Daz would do otherwise, and squeezed his eyes nearly shut. Daz moved behind him and Stiles felt the clawed finger tips softly scratching across his bare back as the wraith used his blood to draw a myriad of symbols in what felt like a circular shape.

‘I know you are spent Stiles, I can try to feed you more power, but you are already hurt. You have to call him.’ Stiles coughed harshly as another gust of smoke poured past, he could feel the fire dancing in the trees ahead. ‘How?’ Stiles questioned in his mind. ‘Just reach for him as you did before, your mind will remember the energy.’

Concentrating with all the chaos going on around him was difficult and then it was like his senses turned themselves off. He couldn’t smell the smoke, the taste of sulfur in the back of his throat was gone and his eyes peered into the deepest darkness. The softest whisper of Daz in his mind said, ‘Find him Stiles. Do it quickly!’

 

 

* * *

 

 

After dismissing the passing smell of smoke, the next scent to offend Scott’s nostrils was the stink of Peter Hale’s odor lingering in the air just inside the clinic door. He stopped Allison as she started to come in and mouthed Peter’s name to her, his brows furrowed in annoyance. It had been like a vacation for the past couple weeks of not seeing him. Allison was oblivious to the fact that Scott meant for her to stay outside, but when he stepped into the waiting area he realized the gate was shut and he would need her to open it anyway.

The door chime usually had the vet coming up from the back to greet visitors with a warm smile, but it wasn’t happening now. The lights were actually off in the lobby but Scott had no issue seeing in the low light. Lydia stood just outside the door watching wide eyed, she was not interested in being anywhere near Peter unless absolutely necessary.

Scott tilted his head and listened in on the exam rooms in the back. Peter coughed loudly and sneered mockingly, “You would think that by now the Alpha would be using his senses more productively. He wouldn’t be surprised when he walked in to smell me had he been listening to his surroundings.” Peter started hacking again and the sound of something metallic clinked across the tile. His voice echoed off the ceiling more than the walls, sounding like he was laying on one of the tables. The soft thunder sound of an x-ray film flopping about echoed down the hallway and Dr. Deaton slid it onto the light box a loud click as he hit the switch to turn on the bulbs and view the film. “Let’s see what we..” Alan cleared his throat softly and continued, “Scott,” he assumed that by this point that Scott was listening in on the conversation, “you and Allison might want to get out of here.”

Scott was already walking toward the gate and motioned for Allison to pull it open. They were almost to the door Scott still listening in to the commotion in the exam room. Peter’s voice grumbled something and the stainless steel rumbled and flexed as he moved about, “Is that a-” “I can’t be sure without an MRI,” Alan interrupted his sentence, “but I am afraid any type of magnetic field could be very hazardous in this situation.”

“Who did you say pulled you out of the car wreck again?” Scott pushed open the door and Peter looked at him from his seated position on the exam table like he was something on the bottom of his shoe. He was shirtless but certainly didn’t look like he had been in a car accident. “Weren’t you told to leave?” Peter growled. Scott looked quickly to the x-ray film and the distinct outline of metal wiring was visible along with what was suspiciously shaped like a small block of C4 and maybe a timer, just behind his rib cage in front of his right lung.

Scott pointlessly stepped between Peter and Allison as if his body would even partially protect her in case of an explosion. He eyed Dr. Deaton with a ‘you can’t be fucking serious’ glare, “That’s a bomb.” It wasn’t a question. Scott’s face was ridiculous, jaw hanging open staring at the film. Alan just nodded without adding any comment.

Peter threw his legs over the edge of the table and laughed, “I don’t know why you are so upset, it’s in MY chest!” Alan moved to keep him from getting up. “Betsy was her name, and I knew I shouldn’t have trusted her. Cold blooded reptiles, the lot of them, can’t ever trust a hunter.” He eyed Allison over Scott’s shoulder, then looked Scott in the eye, his cold blue shone from his irises. “Mark my word, they will screw you over, every time.”

Alan moved up beside Peter and lifted his fingertips to his shoulder, a mere suggestion that he sit back down, “perhaps it would be better if you stayed seated-” “I’m fine,”Peter slapped his hand away flailing not unlike Scott had seen Stiles do many times in the past. “It hasn’t went off yet.” He paced to the other side of the table and Scott watched at the muscle in Peter’s jaw flexed, you could see the gears in his head turning, but Scott didn’t know what Peter was thinking, “The question is, how to we get it out without setting it off?”

 

* * *

 

 

 


	10. Acrid Smoke

 

 

 

She really had no reason to take the flowers down to the morgue. It’s not like Mrs. Bryant even knew about the flowers before she died, she sure as hell wasn’t going to know about them now. They would just end up getting thrown away by one of the morticians, but they had been left for her by Mr. Pate before he fell under, and she just felt like he would have wanted them to go with her.

The flowers had really opened up, she noticed the dark blue veins running inside the flesh of the petals deep in the flower. For a moment she thought they had an interesting scent to them, and then it hit her she probably shouldn't be close enough to smell them. Still making sure not to touch anything but the vase, she pressed the door to the morgue open a crack with her foot and leaned her head in. “Bill,” of late she had come to know the morgue staff on a first name basis. Hell, she even knew the way he took his coffee. People seriously needed to stop dying in this town. “Anybody down here?” Dead silence was her only reply.

She kicked the door fully open and stepped in, the fragrant flowers leading her way, and was met by a snarling sound and the face of a wild eye shifter the likes she had yet to see. The teeth were nothing like Scott’s fangs, and the wide eyes were two different colors, one a violent purple the other glowing like molten metal. The sound it let out was a mix between a growl and a hiss, it was definitely something that would be in her nightmares for weeks. It leapt away from her slamming into the side of the table on which the shrouded body of Mrs. Bryant lay, nearly knocking her lifeless form into the floor.

Autopsy tools flew everywhere, the stainless steel blades catching the overhead light in the dim room and tossing it about like a mirrorball. As the tray flipped through the air, the shifter shot out the ambulance doors in the back. The claw marks along the wall would be interesting to explain to Bill when he came back from his coffee break.

Melissa looked down at the vase of flowers in her hands. Saved by a bouquet of deadly wolfsbane. She shook her head and loosened her death grip on the glass vase. It was a wonder she hadn’t dropped it, or, she shook her head thinking to herself, thrown it at the shifter.

She needed to call the Sheriff and Alan to let them know what was going on, but why was the creature here. What more can you do to a dead person?

 

 

* * *

 

 

Stiles pressed with everything he had left in him toward the figure in his mind. It was surrounded by the untamed flames as they leapt into the air devouring the oxygen and turning the trees into char. The fire was most dense around the pulsing energy he reached for almost as if the figure was pushing the fire to do his will. Stiles could feel Daz beside him in his mind as he visualized a hand to grip the figure in the far distance.  He also felt Daz behind him outside his mind. It was confusing to be able to be two places at once, but he was trying to concentrate on the task at hand.

‘This is going to hurt.’ Daz whispered in the darkness. Sharp claws dug into the marks on Stiles’ back, five points stinging like fire and he jerked his actual hand back along with the one he was visualizing. His eyes snapped open and he sucked in a mouthful of smoke that immediately choked him again. His eyes watered as his head spun from the lack of oxygen.

A dark shape rocketed through the smoke and slammed into a tree next to him, bark split from the tree and flew into the air. Stiles pressed the damn t shirt back to his mouth hacking fiercely into the blood stained fabric, the burning five points of pain on his back dulled as Daz withdrew his claws. Branches fell from high above at the sudden impact, billowing through the cloud of smoke as they fell and littered the ground around the dark pile of limbs.

Before Stiles could get a look at the creature, fire blazed to life in front of him surrounding the fallen form, it’s heat pressed ominously against his face threatening to singe off his eyebrows. As he pulled back instinctually seeking the protection of his shadow twin. An iron grip clutched his shoulders and pulled him up from the ground to his feet, the skin all along his backside prickled like a million needle points almost as if he had been plunged into freezing water .

“Enough!!” Stiles was shocked to hear the rattling words coming out of his mouth. He had said things before that he didn’t mean to, but this was completely different, it wasn’t him saying anything. His voice wasn’t normal, it had a gravel to it like when he was hoarse from screaming at a lacrosse game, times a hundred.  

He quickly realized he  was not even controlling his own body, the way he proud way he was standing, chest out with shoulders back, fingers curled like claws in his free hand, exuding confidence and control in the face of danger was totally not what he felt like. If he were in control he would probably already be running. He could still feel his body and see everything that was happening, but he couldn’t even move a finger. He pulled at his body trying to move, anything, at least a finger, ‘Let me handle this Stiles.’ Daz was almost apologetic in his thought sharing.

The fire waned and Stiles could make out a figure in the flames. The figure also stood proud, very much so taller than Stiles, broad chest and defined shoulders stood in stark contrast to the flames licking along his skin. Stiles couldn’t understand how he stood in the midst of the fire without any effect. Cold blue rings stared out of the flames as they swathed about his throat and seemed to almost drip down his torso. Daz spoke through his mouth, “I summoned you here and you will obey my will or suffer my wrath!” “Suffer my wrath? Who even says things like that?’ Stiles couldn’t help thinking ridiculous things.

At first Stiles thought he was hearing things, but what started out as a soft breathing sound among the crackling leaves and snapping branches grew until it was unmistakable that the creature was laughing. Stiles could feel what energy he had left pooling in the palm of his unmarked hand, it tingled with the promise of more blisters and Daz spit venomously “Do you wish to test me beast?”

“You are at your limit, little witchling.” The voice was impossibly deep and thick with an accent Stiles couldn’t place, “I saw you cowering in the leaves like a child.” The fire cleared away even more as the surrounding fuel was consumed. Daz must have been keeping the fire at bay because none of the flames approached where Stiles stood. Standing in clear view now, the figure was a nude as a newborn babe, covered with a thick black layer of char. Everything but his glowing blue eyes and the viscous, violent green fluid dripping from his chin, was black as the night sky.

Stiles watched as the green ooze ignited near the beast’s mouth and burned in rivulets dripping down his chest and down his toned abs. If Stiles wasn’t scared shitless, he would have been seriously turned on by the well muscled form. The creature could literally spit fire. “You have no idea the amount of power I possess!” It was seriously grating against Stiles’ last nerve having his mouth completely out of his control, though, thinking about it, his mouth was rarely under control, but usually it spewed his random thoughts, not those of another entity. The one thing he did seem to be in control of were his eyes. He studied the creature, he looked just like a man, completely bald with a contemptuous glower across his face, a wide jaw and strong nose. Something in the glowing embers of leaves at the creature’s feet caught his attention. His ankles were cuffed in tight silver manacles, a thick round ring attached to the outside. Daz flexed Stiles’ fingers pulling at the thick cord of energy that ran between them, he could tell Daz was about to attack. Then Stiles noted the creatures wandering eyes and could almost sense the confusion and hesitation in his eyes. Stiles was surprised again to hear his voice as his lips moved, “Wait!”

He blinked his hand uncurled still out of his control, but the voice had been his, not Daz speaking through him. He ran with it, “Stop, please, just everyone calm down.”

The man’s eyes narrowed as he studied Stiles, “Hecate?” Stiles couldn’t tell if the confused thoughts he was having conveyed on his face, as it he was merely a puppet for Daz to control at the moment. He watched as Crispy wiped his forearm across his chin smearing the ooze all along his arm. Stiles still had his mouth under control and quipped” “What?” “No, but you are three spirited?” The man seemed to waver even more in his aggressive stance. “Are you hiding him Dark Moon?” he glanced around the forest where the majority of the fires had oddly smoldered out, then up to the trees, “where are we?”

Stiles didn’t know how to respond, Daz held his body rigidly like a cat with it’s back arched, “Ummm, I don’t know about three spirited, no idea who he is, we are on Earth. Ah, America, California… I really don’t know which you want to hear.” He felt the urge to scratch his nails across the back of his hair and realized he still couldn’t move his own body. “Midgard?” the soot covered man looked around again, “You broke the veil from Svartalfheim?”

Daz overrode Stiles’ again,  his gravel voice scraping across Stiles’ vocal cords, “We can return you.” ‘NO! don’t-’ Stiles began to think only too late. The man began to roar “NOOOOOoo”, and flames poured out of the wide howling face, like an explosion billowing toward Stiles.  

 

 

* * *

 

 

“No, absolutely not!” Scott looked like he was over it all and Allison was beginning to worry about his humanity losing control, “No, I don’t want my mom anywhere around this bomb!” Alan backed away slowly like he was reading into Allison’s worry, or maybe even saw a tinge of red bleeding into his irises. “It was just a suggestion Scott, I need someone to help me perform the surgery and she already knows about-” “NO.” Allison was sure she could hear the Alpha command surfacing. Alan took a larger step back from him.

“That only works on members of your pack Scott.” Peter was obnoxiously inspecting his nails as if he couldn’t be less interested in the conversation. “The wires were probably pulled apart in the healing process. What reason would they have for the timer to be more than 40 some hours later?”

Allison wanted to distract Scott with anything, “What if we had someone that knew how to disarm the bomb?” Scott turned to look at her, there was definitely a crimson ring around his chocolate eyes. She moved in closer to put her hand on his forearm. She tried to will him to be calm. Scott huffed out an exasperated breath, “Who do we know that has supernatural experience that might be able to help with disarming a bomb?” Peter spoke up before Allison could answer, “I bet the Sheriff has some explosives training.”

Allison watched Scott visibly trembling, his eyes clenched shut tight as she felt the growl rumbling deep in his chest. She gripped her hand around his wrist and noticed the blood dripping from the knuckles of his other hand as he balled it into a fist.

The rumble still colored his voice as he spoke, “All you ever care about is yourself.” He whipped his head around and dancing rubies glared at Peter. “Why should we even help you?”   
Peter licked his lips slowly and then broke his face into a gleamingly perfect smile, “You shouldn’t, in fact, it would probably be in your best interest to put me in the middle of the forest and detonate the bomb yourself.” He folded his arms across his chest, then lifted his hand back to inspect his nails, “Funny though, you were the first one to volunteer to help-” Scott cut him off, “Yeah, ME! I will risk MY life to help Alan, Alan, not you, not to risk my family and friends lives.” Scott was talking past his fangs as they filled his mouth, yet Peter didn’t look in the least bit worried.

“Scott,” Alan had an inherent ability to sooth even the most vicious animals that were brought into his office. Scott never knew how he could do it, but something about him always made even angry, hurt dogs, whimper and beg. “Scott,” Scott turned to face Alan and the color faded. “If we have any chance of getting this thing out without it going off, we are going to need all the help we can get. If you want to help me, we need to work together.”

“I was going to say, my Dad has experience in explosives, and they have bomb disposal suits at the police station. The Sheriff can bring them, my Dad can handle the bomb, your...” Allison paused watching Scott for a reaction, “Mom and Alan can handle the surgery, and it will make it safer for everyone involved.”

“Wonderful!” Peter blurted, “It’s all settled then.” Scott didn’t look from Allison, but his mouth flattened into a scowl and his eyes narrowed. That middle of the woods detonation was sounding better and better.

 

 

* * *

 

 

“Wait, you mean a creature was in the morgue, and you scared it away with wolfsbane? Wouldn’t that mean it was a werewolf?” Jonathan was whispering loudly and kept peeking out the blinds on the door to make sure that no one was nearby. “I don’t know what it was, but it definitely wasn’t like Scott or Jackson, or any of the others I have seen.” Jonathan paced back to his desk eyeing the file still in the middle of his desk, “Well, are you okay?” He could hear the smile in her voice even across the line, “Yeah, yeah, I am fine. I just can’t, for the life of me figure out what it would have wanted with her body.” Melissa had told the mortician that some wacko was in the room when she came in and he put the body back in the locked freezer to keep anyone from doing any ‘sick or perverse’ things to her.

Bill had apparently worked in a morgue in a less savory neighborhood before moving to Beacon Hills and he declined to share any of the horror stories he had experienced. But he was the first person to bring locks into the morgue for just such an occasion. Melissa left the flowers sitting next to the exit just in case.

“I’ll send an officer to keep watch in the morgue until tomorrow.” Jonathan’s phone beeped in his ear, “Hold on,” he twisted it around to see the number, “Alan’s calling me, can you hold on a minute.” A rustling noise came from the other line and Melissa’s voice sounded away from the mouthpiece, “I'll just call you back, Scott just called me.”

 

 

* * *

 

 

Rachel jerked up from the pillow on the sofa. She didn’t even remember falling asleep while watching the TV, but the vivid dreams were the weirdest she had ever had. As she rubbed sleepily at her eyes the vivid dreams faded almost immediately, but the sound of the scream was something she couldn’t forget. The girl’s voice was so shrill and filled with terror.

She pulled the throw off her legs and tossed it to the back of the couch and dropped her feet to the cool floor. She stretched her arms high in the air arching her back and she remembered flashes of fire, and… she snorted a quick breath out her nose. The memories were like grains of sand slipping through her fingers. She pulled her right hand into her left and rubbed at the aching in her palm.

Mom usually would have called by now to check in from work, she pulled her phone off the coffee table and checked for missed messages. Odd, nothing was there. She dialed her Mom’s number and stood from the sofa to walk to the kitchen. Going to school she never kept a normal sleeping schedule, but with her Mom working different shifts, it didn’t matter that much. It was still ringing when she got to the fridge and pulled out the milk. As the call went to voicemail she sat the carton on the counter and ended the call. Rachel thought back to all the times her Mom told her about forgetting her phone in the car, or the nurses’ station and decided to just try the hospital.

The phone was picked up on the first ring, “Can I speak to Hannah West please,” the nurse moved around some papers in the background and came back on the line, “No, she isn’t scheduled today.” Rachel’s brow furrowed in annoyance, “Can you double check, she just left here a couple hours ago going to work.” The frazzled nurse fumbled the papers again, “Who is this?” Rachel moved the phone to the other ear, “Rachel West, her daughter.” The nurse seemed satisfied with that answer, “She traded shift with another nurse so she could have the night off. Must have forgotten and came in anyway, I did that last week and ended up going out to O’Briens for a couple of drinks in my scrubs.” Rachel could hear the other phone line ringing, “Don’t worry honey, I am sure your Mom is fine. I’ll take a message that you called.” Rachel muttered, “Thanks,” before ending the call.

Her Mom had never been so secretive in the past, and now with the library door, then going to work when she was off. Something wasn’t adding up. She pulled a glass from the cabinet and poured a glass full of milk. The smell hit her almost immediately, the milk had went bad, and not just by a day or two. She checked the date and it was still in date. Rachel didn’t have to check the milk again just to make sure, she poured the glass into the sink and then poured the rest of the carton in after.

Just before she turned on the water to rinse the sink out and make sure the smell didn’t stink up the whole house, she saw it. The spoiled milk had formed two nearly perfect rings around the drain. She paused her hand still on the faucet handle and stared at the rings. How did that even happen? Her eyes widened in disbelief as the milk in the sink seemed to be running against gravity back away from the drain. The milk from the inner ring ran in thin filaments down the side of the drain like it was growing roots. She jerked the faucet handle up and the stream of water washed away the rings.

Well, that was creepy as shit. She rinsed out the carton and dropped it in the recycling. She looked back at her phone. It was way too early to call it a night. She was a young, hot girl with a fake ID, and Beacon Hills at least had a few good clubs to go to. What was the one she went to last time, The forest, no.. Jungle. She tossed her phone on the counter and hit the stairs taking them two at a time toward the a hot shower. She was going out.

 

 

* * *

 

 

The flames flowed over and around Stiles like he was inside a human sized hamster ball, orange and yellow light seemed to dance across the outside of the sphere. ‘I can’t keep this up for long.’ Daz sounded faint inside his head. Stiles could feel the bones in his right forearm flare and ache like hot sand flowed through his flesh, but his left palm was just getting warm. He needed to think of something, anything and fast.

“I’ll help you find him!” Stiles yelled into the origin of the fire. He waited and thought he wasn’t going to get through to the monster vomiting flames at him like a mythological creature. “You don’t have to go back, please, let’s just talk this out.” ‘Stiles, you are showing nothing but weakness. The fae do not respond to weakness’ The flames seemed to wane.

The shell fell apart just as the fire stopped blasting in his direction and Stiles almost collapsed to his knees feeling Daz slip out of him in the process. He stepped forward catching himself, hopefully before he was seen. From the beast’s point of view, the shield was still in place. Stiles hoped like hell that he didn’t test it further.

Crispy, as Stiles was calling him in his head, wiped at the corner of his mouth and turned to spit out a mouthful of green ooze that burst into flames on the tree beside him. “You are more formidable than I thought.” It looked like a smile that played across his lips, “You won’t send me back? I have your word?” Stiles tried to hold the pose that Daz had struck, but his shoulders were burning from strain and he was past spent. He held the fierce look on his face and tried to exude power while barely being able to stand on his own two feet.

Daz whispered in his mind and Stiles agreed quickly. “If I give you my word not to send you back, you must give me your true name.” Stiles noticed that even without eyebrows the man could throw some serious glaring. It reminded him of a certain sourwolf, but without the underlying charm. Stiles prayed silently to himself that the beast didn’t call his bluff because the next blast of fire was going to cook him alive.

Crispy licked the char off his lips and paused while holding what Stiles thought looked like the creature was trying for a smile and failing miserably. His face looked almost distressed like a grimace would have been a more appropriate description, “My mistress will be furious with me, and even more so with you,” his blue eyes seemed to darken and the smile turned a bit more wicked, “but as long as I do not have to return to her.” He looked down to the ground like he was reconsidering giving such power over him to boy he just met. No, Stiles noticed the shackle on his ankle, maybe he was considering changing cages. “Kai Aam.” He looked up briefly and then back to the ground.

Daz repeated the name in Stiles head, ‘Say it aloud and watch his eyes.’ Stiles muttered the name quietly, but nothing happened, or if it did he couldn’t see his eyes react. ‘The whole name Stiles, he has to give you the whole name, he will be unable to look away upon hearing his true name.’

Stiles wanted so badly to wipe the sweat from his brow as it threatened to drip into his eyes. The muscles in his back were screaming in agony, ‘Hold on Stiles, you can do it.’ Stiles steadied his voice and coolly remarked, “All of it Kai,” Stiles prompted gently. The soot covered man looked up and smiled another of his grimace like smiles, he had been testing Stiles. “Kai Aam Yazid,” the man spoke plainly as if introducing himself for the first time. Stile repeated the name back and Kai didn’t break eye contact. “Kai Aam Yazid,” the man’s eyes flared to bright rings of blue and Stiles felt another strand make a connection. It was a thin cord, but a strong conduit through which much flowed.

He could feel the warm buzz of life energy inside Kai, the beat of his heart was slow and strong, but he was almost immediately overwhelmed by his emotions, apprehension and fear bled through the contact. He could almost read his thoughts as he thought of his mistress, the one who chained him with the shackles. ‘Was this a test? Did he fail and he would be punished?’ The flames still burning through the trees in the distance called out to Kai to come play. There was much fun to be had. A sudden clamp of dark violet energy surrounded the fine thread connecting him to Kai. ‘Stiles! You must watch what you allow through.’

“You were spent! I knew it!” Kai bellowed. Stiles dropped to his knees and collapsed forward barely catching himself on his one good hand. Kai huffed out a breath through his nose, “You would make a fair fae little witchling. You are trickly like they are.” Stiles could swear the man was laughing.

Daz prodded in Stiles mind, ‘Tell him to reign in his flames.’ Stiles drew a few breaths still tasting the ashe, but far more air than smoke now. “He can control the fire?” Stiles got the feeling that Daz wasn’t sure, but was hopeful. “Call your fire Kai.”

Kai cocked his head to the side, “I have,” He looked around the clearing in which they stood, “it is out.” Stiles sat back on his heels, “Not here, the fire over in the trees.” Kai looked to the tree line and watched the flames leap from the tree tops. “I am afraid that fire no longer answers to me, it is already too wild to be tamed once again.”

He pulled out his phone and dialed 911, hoping that they didn’t trace the call back to him, he just blurted out, “There’s a fire in the preserve, half mile from the old Hale house.” He immediately hung up the phone.

Kai walked closer to Stiles and Daz read his sudden apprehension, ‘he can not harm you without breaking his bond and sending himself back’ Stiles furrowed his brow, ‘really? that’s how it works?’ Kai interrupted his thoughts, “You should really train your face better, not to betray your thoughts, others will figure out you are a Dark Moon.”

Stiles lifted his head to look up at the soot covered man as he stepped closer. Unfortunately this put Stiles nearly face to crotch with Kai. He immediately looked back to the ground. “We should really get you some clothes.” Stiles said into the charred leaves around his feet. Kai stopped walking toward him, “that reminds me,” he walked back to the tree he had crashed into and pulled up a dark wad of something. He walked back over, thankfully kneeling beside Stiles before dropping the bundle in front of Stiles.

Stiles recognized the leather jacket immediately, He grabbed up the jacked and immediately dropped it after finding the buttons and zipper still burning hot. “Where did you get this?” Up close Kai didn’t seem quite as ominous as the fire breathing beast Stiles first saw. His eyes were almost kind behind the caked on ash. “My mistress gave me the item for his scent. He was to be hunted tomorrow at dawn.”

Stiles jerked his head up meeting Kai’s eyes, “Hunted?”

 

 

* * *

 

 

“First a bomb inside someone’s chest and now there is a fire in the preserve. Can’t seem to ever get a break!” Melissa dropped her ballistics helmet and yelped, “What?” Scott grabbed the helmet as it bounced across the lobby floor. “I thought that I smelled smoke earlier, is it under control, do we need to leave?” The Sheriff shook his head, “The wind is pushing it away from town and the Park Rangers already have people working to put out the fire.” Allison and Lydia were in seats in the waiting area, and Alan and Peter were still in the back.

Chris knocked on the glass door of the clinic and Jonathan stepped over to unlock the door and let him in, “A block of C4 that size can cause some pretty serious damage, but it is unlikely to affect anyone outside of the building. That being said, we should still consider getting all the unnecessary people out of the area. Most of the surrounding shops are vacant as well.” He eyed his daughter and Lydia, “Might be best if you weren’t here either Scott.”

Alan stepped in from the back exam room, “Actually, I was hoping that you might stick around.” Scott eyed him curiously, “You have my Mom helping you with the procedure, I don’t know what I would be able to do to help.” Alan clasped his hands in front of him and frowned, “I used up all the werewolf appropriate pain killers on the twins. I was hoping that you might be able to help siphon off some of the pain to make it a little more tolerable for Peter to undergo surgery without any anesthesia.”

Melissa chimed in, “There are only three suits here,” she waved her hand across the pile of bomb technician safety equipment, “and it doesn’t look like they are even complete sets.” Jonathan looked guilty, “It’s all we have at the station. We don’t get a lot of bomb scares, and most of the time I can call in for state assistance, but-” “It doesn’t matter,” Chris interrupted, “If the bomb does go off the blast will go up and out from the table, the pants, and shoes for that matter, are really a waste of time. And there is no way that either of you are going to be able to use any of the surgical implements with your hands in those gloves.”

Scott pulled his Mom back into a hug, “I can stay under the edge of the table at Peter’s ankle, I only need skin contact. Right?” He pulled his Mom around, “Are you sure-” “Scott, we already settled this, I am not letting Alan attempt to do this alone.”

Chris pointed to his daughter and then the door, Allison met his directions with a frown but nodded in agreement as she pulled Lyda along with her. She looked at Scott as she paused the door and mouthed ‘be careful’ before slipping out and into the night.

Alan and Chris went back to the empty exam room and Scott could hear them flip on the lightbox to view the x-ray film. “The C4 is clear of any metal, but his bones will act as shrapnel if it does go off.” Scott could picture the passive face that Deaton always had in the face of danger. Chris continued, “Best case scenario, if this thing goes off, you could lose the use of your hands.” “As you and your family have made so clear in the past, you have your family motto and a responsibility to all those unable to protect themselves from the supernatural, I have my own responsibilities. The Hale pack is one of them.” Scott wasn't as surprised to know that Alan was the Hale family Emissary.

Scott glanced over to Melissa and the Sheriff, he had been paying so much attention to what Chris was saying that he didn’t notice the two of them talking. Were he and Allison this sickeningly sweet to watch, well, back when they were still dancing around each other. Sheriff Stilinski was helping her into the protective ballistic armor and Scott watched as he held her hair back for her and then zipped up the back. The Sheriff caught Scott watching and stepped back to put a little space between the two of them.

Scott turned his attention to Peter in the first exam room. He could hear the soft vibration like that of a smartphone’s key input. He was curious what Peter could be doing. He walked back to the door and considered pushing it open, but he reconsidered how Peter might react.

 

 

* * *

 

 

“Daaaad, I’m bored!” Megan was the only one in the family that couldn’t really keep herself occupied with her tablet or her phone. Steven sometimes wondered if she were actually someone else’s daughter. He immediately winced at the thought of insulting his late wife. “Don’t you have any friend you can chat with?” Steven encouraged her.

“Yeah Dad, I did that for the past 4 hours. I want to go out and-” “Absolutely not, there is a vampire running around this town, much less the werewolves and God only knows what else is lurking in this town.” He paused the TV show he was watching on Netflix and dropped it on the couch. “The way Chris runs this area, I think that most of the people here are probably freaks. I don’t want you associating with them.”

Patricia’s attention was peaked by the conversation, “We have been in this rig for several days now.” Trish knew how active her sister liked to stay and being cramped up inside all the time was probably so claustrophobic. “How about if I go with her and we just go for a short run, around the downtown area.” She lifted her eyebrows, “She has supervision, and streetlights… plenty of witnesses incase anyone might think of trying something.”

Steven pulled a soda out of the mini fridge and cracked the top, “Trish one 15 year old and one 16 year old does not equal an adult Trish. How many times do I have to tell you that?” He pulled his tablet back up and switched programs. The parking lot at the vet clinic was hopping with cars tonight.  “I still can’t believe they are risking their lives to try and get an explosive out of one of the beast’s chests. I’d put a bullet in him and save us all the worry. If I had the radio frequency I would detonate it myself.”

“What if Drew comes with us? He is 18, that should count as adult supervision.” Steven looked over his reading glasses at Trish and then to Megan who was smiling brightly. “Not running, you guys can forget it.” Drew muttered flatly from his recliner in the back corner of the room. “And before you say jogging, I overrule any form of physical exertion.” He dropped his phone in his lap, “I already hiked a fucking mile in the woods today because you two wanted to pretend like you were in charge of something.”  
“LANGUAGE ANDREW!” Steven didn’t raise his voice much, but the effect was the same. “He has a point girls, I should be grounding you for going off on your own. I mean really, what were you thinking?” He pulled his tablet back up and checked the sensored cameras for alerts. “Taunting an Alpha is just stupid, you both could have gotten yourselves killed.”

Megan knew she was not going to argue her way out of it tonight. She flopped back into the seat and pulled up her Facebook page and started scrolling through the same posts she had already read 6 times.

“You can go to the diner two blocks over and get something to eat, but stay on the main streets and bring me back a BLT.”

Megan jerked her head up and caught her Dad looking for her reaction over his screen. “Really?” she hopped up and grabbed her bag, “As long as you can get Drew to agree.” “promise no running Drew, pleeeeease!! They have chocolate shakes.”

Andrew huffed a breath out his nose and stood, “Fine,” he looked back at his phone, “I’ll have to talk to you later, got to take my sisters to dinner.” He tapped the phone off and pocketed it, “let’s go, but one of you are paying.” Both the girls whined, “Daaaaad!”

 

 

* * *

 

 

Stiles tried calling Alan twice before giving up, both times the call rang and rang until it went to voicemail. He considered calling Scott, considering he would be right there with Alan, it would have been ever so simple, but the uncomfortable secret was still hanging there in his mind, he didn’t want to have to talk to Scott with that in the back of his thoughts.

There was no way he was going to make it to the clinic tonight. And now he had a fully grown man, who was stark naked and covered from head to toe in soot, following him through the woods. It was seriously slow going because he was completely exhausted, his back felt like it was still on fire from his peacocking and the five points that Daz pierced, and the bones in his forearm felt like they had seriously broken apart. As hot as it was, he was still wearing Derek’s jacket to help fight off the chills that seemed to be the root of his shivering. Even though the stench of smoke he thought he could still smell Derek’s skin in the leather, that comforted him a little. And last but definitely not the least of his troubles, his palm that had bled through his shirt and ached so bad he wasn’t able to keep a grip on the shirt any more and had tied it in a knot around his whole hand.

He coughed again and again, but couldn’t seem to clear the raspy feeling out of his throat. Daz was surprisingly almost nonexistent for the moment, though he could still note the wavering of the shadows as he passed by the infrequent lights along the jogging trail.  
Thankfully there was a path from the preserve that lead into the woods just behind his house. As long as they didn’t run into any late night joggers on their way home everything would be fine. At least, things would be fine until his Dad got home and asked him why there was a strange man in his house. ‘Shit! how do I get myself into this crap.’ Daz didn’t answer but Stiles could almost sense the exhaustion that his protector was feeling.

“You are quite the champion in the making little witch.” The warm voice of Kai was deep and full but it seemed almost gentle. “Most of the fae I have encountered would need medical treatment after that much exertion and breathing that much smoke.” Stiles looked back to him and tried to manage a smile. It was odd, if Stiles were naked he would be at least attempting to cover himself, but he just walked along as if it were the most natural thing in the world. Kai narrowed his eyes at him, “Are you sure that you are not in need as well?”

That was the moment that Stiles’ had another coughing fit. He couldn’t quite catch his breath and his head spinning caused him to lose his balance and his legs to stop working. He threw his hands out expecting the ground to come up quickly but instead found himself face to face with Kai. His crinkled eyes were still blue, but lacked the dangerous glow from earlier. Stiles realized that he was pressed up pretty close to Kai’s chest laying across his knee and his eyebrows lifted in surprise. Kai was studying him closely, “I think you do need medical treatment. Where should I take you?”

Stiles pulled back from the close inspection of the soot covered man gathering the strength in his legs to attempt to stand, “Woah, We aren’t going anywhere until you have on some pants.” Kai looked down to his crotch against the shins of the young man’s pants, “You Gaians are quite particular about your clothing aren’t you?”

“Gaians?” Stiles mocked moving back from Kai a step. “First lesson of the day for you, if we are going to get you to blend in, you need to stop calling us weird names. As far as everyone else can tell, you are human too.” He emphasised ‘human’ hoping it would sink in. “Actually, I don’t even know what you are.”

Kai’s stayed kneeling, hands seemed at the ready to catch Stiles if he should fall again, though the young man seemed to be okay for the moment. “Draconian. Even in Svartalfheim we are rare.” Stiles watched the man’s eyes drift unfocused as they seemed to be looking far into the past. “A dragon?” Stiles said shrugging his shoulders and nodded lightly, “sure, why the fuck not, just when I thought things wouldn’t get any weirder.”

Stiles lost his balance again and Kai grabbed him by his shoulders, “You are too weak to continue.” The next thing Stiles knew he was pulled around, thankfully by his good arm, and hoisted up to Kai’s shoulders piggy-back. “I will walk, and you will direct my way.”

 

 

* * *

 

 

Peter was strapped down to the table for everyone’s safety, much to his displeasure. He might be undergoing surgery, but he still had claws and teeth the rest of them had to worry about. He was sure that Chris was some what smug about the vision of him laying there. He was breathing angrily out his nostrils with Chris’ electrodes attached to his arms. Alan was trying to be as soothing as possible, but it seemed even the Emissary was stressed out, “The current should help keep you from healing as we are cutting, but we can’t use as high voltage as we would like, Chris said we could inadvertently set off the charge. Scott agreed to help bear the pain as you suggested.”

Scott cracked his knuckles out of nervous habit, thinking about the implication that Peter had actually been the one to suggest Scott’s assistance made him uneasy. Deaton hadn’t said anything about it being Peter’s suggestion before. Every time they tried to work with him it seemed like he was always one step ahead, but what was he up to now.

They were all gathered around the table, Chris opposite Alan near each of Peter’s shoulders, Melissa at the head of the table assisting Alan, and Scott at the foot of the table next to Peter’s rolled up pant leg. Peter had been prepped, chest washed and covered in iodine, even though it was probably pointless since he would heal before any infection could set in, and werewolves didn’t really carry disease anyway, but Melissa was doing what she thought was best.

Melissa looked at the pieces of ballistics armor they were wearing again, “None of this stuff is sterile. In fact it looks pretty filthy.” Scott rubbed his fingers against his forehead nervously, “It’s not going to make a difference if we all get blown up.”

Alan interjected, “Scott is right, I would like to get started as quickly as possible.” He looked Peter in the eyes, they weren’t glowing but they could still press the average man into submission. “I already gave you all the painkillers I could find, but this is still going to hurt. The explosive is under the rib cage, so I have to crack you open to get to it-” “Just get on with it will you?!”

Alan looked across the table at Chris, his breath fogged the inside surface of his helmet, then he nodded. He looked to Melissa and swallowed, “Remember, we have to prevent the tissues from touching, or they will simply grow back together as we are cutting.” This plan apparently included stuffing gauze in as they went to inhibit the healing.

As Alan slowly pulled the scalpel down Peter’s breastbone he breathed a hissing breath in, Scott wrapped his hand around Peter’s bare ankle and knelt down a little under the table. Peter could feel the warmth of Scott’s hand against his skin, and even though he wasn’t actively pulling the pain away, he could still tell that Scott had it in him. This was the opportunity that could not be missed. If he could get Scott to use his Alpha spark to the breaking point, he could potentially pass it on to him.

Even laying with his chest being cut open, Peter couldn’t help but be devious. “Alpha, beta, omega. Alpha, beta, omega.” It was a quiet mantra he barely whispered to himself, but he knew that Scott could hear him, even over the suction of the machine clearing the blood from Alan’s view. He was really going to have to play up the pain if he was going to sell this to Scott. The one thing he had on his side was, Scott didn’t know how much was too much. He was too new at being a wolf, much less being an Alpha. If he pulled too hard trying to take all the pain and died in the process, Peter would definitely be able to steal his spark.

He growled while muttering his mantra. “Alpha, beta, omega.” Scott started pulling away the pain, amazingly Peter barely felt the steel slide through his tissue. Alan slid a clamp in place, the pinching of the tissue was enough to make Peter stutter in the middle of ‘omea ah ughga’ and Peter heard Melissa gasp, “The timer, it’s um, it’s visible between his ribs.” Peter growled, “AND!?”

Alan was still his ever passive faced and solemn self as he muttered, “We have a little over 8 minutes.” The scent in the room was thick with panic.

 

 

* * *

 

 

Winter rolled over and the cold floor under her startled her awake. She jerked into a sitting position looking around quickly. She remembered the man, Horace and laying on the table, He had said something about a mind wipe. She wasn’t sure what that meant, but she really didn’t want to stick around and find out.

She had just rolled off the vinyl wrapped foam pad in the floor. Other than a toilet and sink, she and the foam pad were the only things in the room. The room was small, poured concrete walls and only one door. She stood up slowly, her clothes had been replaced with puke green hospital scrubs. Winter noted the glass window in the door was ample enough for her to fit through, and with her new vampire strength, surely she could break through easily.

She walked to the door and saw the security camera pointed through the opening. The opposite wall was also poured concrete. From the window she could see a little way down the hallway and the other doors matching this one. What the hell was this place?

She reached for the door knob first, thinking that she would be awfully foolish to attempt to break the window in a door that wasn’t locked. Before she reached the door her hand struck an invisible barrier. She pressed harder toward the door but it wouldn’t budge. Blue sparks flared to life at the tips of her fingers the harder she pressed.

She looked back to the window, raised her fist and moved to smash into the glass, but met the same field of energy.

“You are wasting your time.” The man’s voice crackled over a PA system speaker in the ceiling, he sounded young though, probably not even a man really. “Supers are completely powerless against the mountain ashe powder lining the walls.”

She looked back to the walls and noted the black line, she had originally thought it was paint. On closer inspection she could see that it was almost crystalline, reflecting the light in the room like glitter. The line went around the whole room and even through the door. Winter looked back to the camera and followed the point of view the camera had, from that angle it could pretty much see the entire room.

She licked her lips nervously and looked into the camera, “Where am I?” Her voice was tired and the sound of it actually shocked her a little. The PA was silent. She waited for several seconds looking around the hallway, she was about to ask again and thought that maybe the room didn’t have a microphone.

The speaker crackled to life, “I could tell you, but it doesn’t matter. You won’t remember anything after the mind wipe. There will be nothing left of you but the animal inside. You’d kill your own family if they told you to.” The speaker continued to hiss softly like he was holding the button down, but not talking. Winter pulled her tangled mess of hair back swiping her fingers across the crown of her head and gripped her locks tightly. Biting into her bottom lip actually hurt, but it cleared her panic. “Then what harm would there be in telling me?”

The wait seemed like an eternity, but probably only lasted a few seconds, “It’s a medical research facility called Lotus industries. They are working on a cure.” That didn’t help much, Winter had an idea. She smiled shyly at the camera, “You sound young, do you work here, how old are you?” The speaker clicked to life and then off again. Winter figured it wouldn’t work, but she wanted to try. The hissing popped back to life, “My...my Mom works here, she’s a research assistant, sometimes I get bored waiting for her to get off. So I come and watch the security feeds.” The speaker clicked off for a second then back on, “I shouldn’t be talking to you, but like I said, they have to wipe your mind before they can attempt to cure the bite.” He paused, “But, don’t worry, Horace told me your memories are only blocked until after they cure you.” Another voice came across the PA, muffled and distant, “What are you doing in here? I told you-”

The PA went silent and Winter figured the woman must be his mother. She sounded very similar to the voice of Mrs. Vettingham.

Winter pressed in toward the glass trying to see further down the hall but the field buzzed uncomfortably against her forehead. They couldn’t just kidnap her, her mother would report her missing. Surely someone had to have seen something.

 

 

* * *

 

 

The thump of the dance music reverberated through his chest and the laser lights danced across his eyelids as Danny swayed on the dancefloor bouncing to the beat. It felt good to just dance and let everything go for the moment. He had his eyes closed letting the music steal his cares away. The sheen of sweat on his skin even added to his feeling of release as he rubbed his palm against his bare chest. He was almost completely lost in the music when someone ran into him knocking him into a dance platform.

He snapped his eyes open and a guy somewhere between pretty and handsome was looking down at him with a genuine look of concern, “I’m so sorry, are you alright?” Danny’s knee was a little smart, but other than that no harm, “Yeah.” Danny’s eyes swept from the waistband of handsome’s low-riding jeans, along the groove of muscles making up his adonis belt, up the line of blonde fur that ran from his navel south, to a toned chest with perky pink nubs. ‘Damn, why do some people even have clothing to wear?’ “I’m fine. Probably my fault, I had my eyes closed.” Handsome broke into a painfully beautiful, gleaming white smile and reached out to offer Danny a hand to help him up, “Can I buy you a drink?”

Danny could feel the flush of heat across his cheeks as he blushed. Handsome moved in a little closer, closing the space between them to something a little more intimate. He still had it, even after taking a break from the gym. Danny put a hand out to press back against handsome’s six pack, “No, my boyfriend said he was coming a little later. I don’t think he would like me accepting the offer.”

Handsome’s eyes trailed down Danny’s shirtless chest as he chewed at his bottom lip, “What a shame. Sorry again about running you over.” He turned and walked back toward the bar. Danny reached down to grab his shirt that had fallen in the floor in the commotion and tucked it in his waistband. When he looked back up he noticed the handsome guy looking toward the entrance, he shook his head no. Danny’s eyes followed to where Ethan was standing and he quickly turned toward the bathrooms and disappeared.

“Oh hell no.” Danny pulled his tank top out of his waistband and pulled it over his head. He walked toward the bathrooms and saw Aiden sitting at the bar sipping out of a soda bottle. He lifted his eyebrows at Aiden and he quickly turned the barstool around to face the bartender.

It was a good thing the bathroom was empty for once, usually there were completely hammered guys making out, or worse in the stalls, or people getting a fix. Ethan’s shoes were in the middle of three stalls. Danny had no intention of waiting and went to the first stall to step on the toilet seat and look over the divider, “What the hell is going on?”

Ethan looked up shocked at Danny peeking over the wall. He was sitting on the toilet with his pants still on. “Are you avoiding me? No wait, don’t answer that yet. Did you send that guy over to hit on me?”

Ethan opened his mouth but closed it again, the bathroom door opened with a loud thud and a drag queen walked in, “That bitch thinks that she looks better than me? I was Miss California, and what does she have to show for- what the fuck is going on here?”  Danny looked back at the drag queen standing in the doorway of the stall, she was rocking some seriously high platform boots and a vinyl outfit that would have put Brittany to shame. Her platform boots were tapping the floor impatiently.

Danny hopped of the toilet seat, “Sorry, I was just leaving.” He stepped past the drag queen who commented, “Don’t leave on account of me sweetness.” Danny also slammed the door to the wall and was surprised to see Aiden’s face waiting just outside the door. “Did you know about this?” Danny blurted out. “About what?” Danny folded his arms across his chest, “Don’t act like you can’t hear through the door. You know what, never mind.” Danny stepped around Aiden and made a beeline for the door.

The air outside was still hot, even though it was late. The line of people just outside made it that much harder to get back to his car. He shook his head thinking how he really didn’t have anyone to blame but himself. He should have just told Ethan about the kiss with Stiles and told him it didn’t mean anything. “Danny, wait!” Ethan’s voice yelled out behind him and as he turned to look back he didn’t stop walking and ran into someone hard. They both hit the dirt, thankfully Danny was able to keep from landing on the poor person.

The next thing he knows a pretty redhead is getting up from the ground next to him, pointing her fingers and yelling at Ethan, “Look, I have already done this jealous boyfriend shit before, and if this is the way that you are going to act then you might as well just forget the whole damn thing. You know, I thought that you were different the other night at the lake, I really thought that things were going to be different when I wanted to tell you I love you, but if you are going to go so far as to send some stranger to hit on me in hopes that you can catch me in the act. We are done. So- done...” her voice lost it’s thunder as she ran out of steam toward the end.   
Danny got up off the ground dusting the front of his jeans off and looked Ethan over as he stared at the redhead. The stunned look on his face also held a bit of worry in the way his eyebrows drew. Those were Danny’s thoughts just pouring out of her mouth. Ethan looked over at Danny his mouth opening a little and then narrowed his eyes looking back to the girl. Danny reached out slowly and put his hand on her shoulder. She turned around to face him and looked shocked, “What the fuck just happened?”

 

 

* * *

 

 

After explaining how the shower worked to Kai, Stiles rifled through his Dad’s fat clothing. He kept trying to clear the smoke from his throat in little coughing fits.

After Stiles’ Mom died Stiles’ father had eaten and drank himself into a bit of a mess, but thankfully Melissa had been able to help Stiles in getting his father back from the edge. The larger clothing leftover from that stint would be the only thing that might fit Kai’s broad shoulders and thick thighs.

Stiles had had gotten a pretty good look as Kai was getting in the shower. What? He was a horny teenager, not a monk. And even after explaining twice, he was pretty sure that Kai was in the shower with only the cold water running.

He cracked the bathroom door, “Everything alright in there.” Kai blew out a breath spraying the water out of his face. “This soap smells very- Why are you hiding behind the door?” Stiles slides his hand inside laying the sweats on the sink, “I got you some clothes to wear, please tell me you know how to put on clothes.” The shower was still running but Kai didn’t respond. “Hello? Clothes, you know how to wear clothes?”

Stiles opens the door a little more but still doesn’t put his head in. “Kai?” The response finally came, “I refuse to talk to you through a piece of wood. Are you,” he paused for a second, “humans, that ashamed of your bodies that you can’t even look at each other nude?” “No, we just, its,” stuttering seemed to be Stiles’ new form of communication, “socially we are taught to give each other privacy. It is supposed to be respectful.”

Kai coughed a booming sound and spit, Stiles could have swore he heard the sound of a flame hiss against the water. “Well, you have already seen me, so, please open the door so we can talk unhindered.” Stiles rolled his eyes petulantly, “Fine.”

Stiles pushed open the door and sure enough, no steam was visible. “Are you seriously taking a cold shower?” Kai looked over at him with a frown of confusion. “This is a step up from my usual bath in the river. My mistress said that soap was a waste for a creature as dirty as me.” Stiles rolled his eyes and stepped over to the shower pushing the sliding glass open enough to reach in and turn the hot water handle on. Leaning over to reach the handle made his head spin a little, but it wasn’t anything to get worked up about.

“Oh.” Kai hummed, “that is much better.” Stiles did not get aroused at the sound of the naked man’s moans of pleasure. Okay, maybe just a little. Kai was still dark skinned under the black ashe as it washed away, but his skin was a much deeper reddish color. It appeared that Stiles’ earlier observation of no eyebrows was wrong, they were just singed nearly gone. The overhead light caught on a silver bar through his right nipple and Stiles tried to look everywhere but at Kai. Any other jewelry did not need to be found.

“I usually use a coarse brush of boar hair to get all the soot off, but this wad of netting seems to do well also.” Stiles noted that his shower puff would have to be replaced as it was caked with grime and ashe.  He shook his head softly and turned to the sink. He had still not unwrapped his hand and washed it. He considered actually going to the hospital as Kai suggested, but then he would have to answer all kinds of questions.

Stiles pulled at the knotted t-shirt material and peeled the fabric slowly away from his bloodied palm. The bones in his forearm still ached, but his palm actually didn’t look that bad. It was still blistered, but the bleeding had clotted and he probably didn’t even need stitches.

“Kai,” the dragon turned back from the wall he was facing while trying to wash his back, “I’ll make a deal with you.” “I don’t know that I am interested in making any more deals with a witchling that is as tricky as a fae.” Stiles smiled, “You say that like its a bad thing. But no, about the hospital.” Kai dropped his head down almost like he was looking over his glasses at Stiles and narrowed his eyes. “I know Kia, if I am still having problems tomorrow, I will go. But I really can’t tonight. I am well past exhausted.”

Kai rubbed the water off his face and turned back around to the stream of water was spraying down his back. “Only thing keeping my mistress from being able to pull me back through the veil, is my link to you. So, if you could try not to die.” He looked over his shoulder at Stiles and lifted his eyebrows. It reminded Stiles of Derek when he was expecting something from him. “Yeah, no dying. Got it.”

Stiles remembered something and reached under the bathroom counter. He had to dig way back in the back of the cabinet with his good hand but he found it. He pulled out a long handled back brush and stepped over to the shower. “I don’t know if it is boar’s hair, but here you go.” Kai smiled. It was a warm smile that lit up his face. Stiles handed the brush to Kai and did not check out his very muscular ass at all. You could bounce quarters off that thing.

He pulled another towel out of the linen closet and put it on the bar, it was likely a guy that big might need two towels to dry off. He walked back to his bedroom and dropped onto the mattress with a flop.

‘Are you still there?’ Stiles searched his thoughts for any hint of Daz. ‘Rest.’ was the only reply he got. He didn’t know where Kai was sleeping, or when his father was going to be coming home, but at this point, he couldn’t keep his eyes open another second.

 

 

* * *

 

 

None of the people in line at Jungle had made the connection that Danny and Ethan had, and Danny was able to pull the girl away from everyone and try to get her face to look a little less pale. Her name was Rachel, in town for spring break from school. They were standing next to Danny’s car and Ethan was keeping an ear out for anyone in the crowd that might have caught on.

“Those were your thoughts, right? I am not just assuming things, you were about to say those things to him.” Rachel kept rubbing her hands up and down her own forearms like she was cold. Danny nodded. “Has this ever happened to you before?” Rachel shook her head no but her eyes trailed up and to the right like she was remembering things that had happened in the past. “It’s okay, I am not going to judge you. Beacon Hills has a bit of a,” He looked over to Ethan as he watched the people in the distance still filing in the club, and then back to her, “reputation for supernatural things.”

“I have had flashes of thoughts from people, in the past…. strong emotions, but never anything like that. It was like I was, actually projecting you for a minute.”

Danny looked over to Ethan and felt bad, he still hadn’t apologized for that Rachel had said. “I am sure he knows that you, well, I didn’t mean it.” Danny looked at her his eyebrows raised. “Are you still reading me?” Rachel looked up from her purse, “You didn’t say that out loud did you?” She pulled out her lip gloss to swipe across her lips. “I wonder why you are so much louder than everyone else? I’ve never felt anything like you before.” Danny shrugged his shoulders, as far as he knew he wasn’t anything special. At least he thought that Ethan thought he was special. “Okay, look, I am going to have to go home. I think that coming out tonight was probably a bad idea anyway, I still have no idea where my Mom got to, and you are killing me with your guilt. Just tell him about the other guy already. You and I both know it was nothing.”  
Danny noticed Ethan’s shoulders slump forward and he changed the position he was leaning against his bike. Rachel winced, “Shit, I said that out loud too. Here, this is my number,” she handed Danny a folded card, “I’ll really love to figure this out more, but I guess you two need to talk.”

Rachel pulled open the car door and slid into the seat. She looked over to Ethan and raised her eyebrows tilting her head toward him twice. It was easy body language. ‘Go talk to him!’ Danny smiled weakly as she pulled the car away. He watched her headlights turn away back toward the outskirts of town and heard Ethan’s footfalls as he walked up behind him. “I’m sorry.” Ethan was closer than Danny realized when the warm voice hummed in his ear and Ethan’s breath ghosted across his neck.

Danny didn’t even turn around, “No, I’m sorry.” he swallowed and tilted his head back looking up to the sky, the sun was gone, but the clouds still held a weak light in them, “I should have told you that Stiles kissed me, but it really was nothing. Really. I knew you would probably smell him on me, but instead of telling you why, I tried to hide it. I feel awful that I broke your trust in me.”

Danny pivoted on one foot and slowly dropped his eyes to look at Ethan as he smiled, why was he smiling? He should be pissed at me. “I love you too.” Ethan almost purred. Danny licked his dry lips and drew his eyebrows together, “Too?” Ethan reach out with one hand and pulled at the front of Danny’s tank, “Don’t act like you didn’t mean every word that came out of her mouth.” Danny leaned in to the touch, Ethan’s fingers brushed up his abs to rest on his chest just above his heart, “I always thought you would be the first to say it.” Ethan leaned closer closing the distance between their lips, fractions of an inch away he whispered, “technically, I did.”   

 

 

* * *

 

 

“Shit!” Chris cursed as Deaton pressed another clamp in place. Scott who couldn’t see anything that was going on, neither could Peter for that matter, barked out a “What?!” Alan leaned slightly to the side to look down at Peter, “Your ribcage healed around the wiring. There is no way that we are going to be able to remove the bomb in time. We have to defuse it where it is.” Chris referenced the x-ray on the lightbox, “This wire should go from the power to the timer, if I cut it, the timer should stop, or it will set off the charge. If I can cut the wire to the charge first, then it won’t matter.” Melissa was starting to feel a little panicked, “Which wire do you need?”

Peter moaned and Scott realized that he hadn’t been paying attention to the pain draw he was doing. He renewed his efforts and black lines formed across his arm. It was beginning to wear on him, he hoped that it this would be over soon, he needed some serious rest. “I need this section of this rib removed,” Chris urged, and a circular saw ground to life. Peter groaned again, his cry echoed in the small space and Scott increased his efforts.

Melissa tried desperately to pay attention to what Alan needed her to do, but she was greatly distracted by the seconds clicking away on the glowing red display between Peter’s ribs. They were down to two minutes thirty six, no five, seconds and, four, counting. The rib segment she was gripping with a pair of clamps came clean and she dropped it hastily in a stainless steel tray. Alan had reminded her that Peter would probably need any pieces they removed back when they were done. She wasn’t sure about rib, but she didn’t really care at the moment.

Chris dug his fingers in the gap pulling up the blood covered wires. “AHHH!” Peter growled loudly as blood welled up in the gap between the ribs. “Move.” Alan ordered Chris’ hands out of the way and applied suction to the pool of blood. Scott redoubled his efforts feeling the sharp pain in Peter’s chest almost as if it belonged to him. “He’ll heal, be careful, the wires may go through or around vital organs.” Chris tugged the wire gently and followed the diagram he had formed in his head. “I think this is the right wire.”

Peter could feel the strong pull that Scott was using against his almost non existent pain. The tear in his chest seemed to only convince Scott more of Peter’s genuine pain, but he was sure the pain flowed almost completely to Scott. He could tell that Scott was almost there, if he kept going at this rate in a little under a minute he would extinguish his Alpha spark and likely die in the process. Unlike Derek he didn’t have years of being a wolf to give him endurance. Peter added a slow groan for good measure, the near euphoric feel of Scott’s strength was intoxicating.

“Are you sure?” Alan’s voice had a tinge of anxiety that Scott wasn’t used to hearing. Melissa voice cut in, “We are running out of time, you need to make a decision!” “This one either goes between the timer and the cap or its a failsafe.” Chris didn’t sound very certain.

Scott felt almost spent, he really wanted to just curl up and sleep. Why couldn’t they just make up their minds and just cut a wire. It was odd when Scott felt his head tip forward and knock softly into the leg of the stainless steel counter. He reflexively stopped draining pain and Peter growled. Scott shook his head a little to clear the fuzz and renewed his efforts. It would only be a few more seconds.

“30 seconds!” Melissa whined. Chris looked from Alan to Melissa, “Get down.” They crouched down trying to cover the best they could. Chris cut the wire at 5 seconds and the timer was still running, but hopefully it wasn’t connected to the blasting cap. Chris hit the floor and counted down, “4, 3”.

Suddenly the door burst open and a figure leapt through the door at Scott. Scott tried to fend them off but he was too weak. He realized when he was rolled into the counters on the other side of the room that it was Isaac. He was rolled up in Isaac’s limbs and Isaac was holding his face, breathing heavy and his eyes were gleaming gold, “Are you okay?” he panted. Scott was confused. “1!” Chris braced. Isaac wrapped protectively around his Alpha covering him with his chest.

Peter groaned from the table and Scott reached toward him but Isaac grabbed his hand. “NO!” Scott looked back at him shocked. “You can’t even feel it can you?” Scott’s head tipped forward again and Isaac released his hand to hold his face up and look into his eyes. “This is killing you Scott. He probably planned it! He is slowly sucking the life out of you!” He pulled Scott further from the table and leaned him against the counters. He brushed the sweat soaked hair off of Scott’s brow, before standing to put his hand on Peter’s ankle.

The surgical team all stood and Melissa glanced down in between his ribs. The timer was all zeros, and the bomb hadn’t went off. Alan pulled the tools back toward him and nodded at Melissa, “Let’s get this out of him and close up.” Chris started cutting the other wires and slowly threading them out of the tissues. Peter continued to groan and growl theatrically but Isaac seemed to have a better feel for the actual pain he was siphoning. Peter was faking most of it.

Isaac looked over his shoulder to Scott leaning against the counters, his head was leaned to one side, his eyes closed, but Isaac could hear the steady beat of his heart and feel the comforting presence of this sixth sense between them.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

Allison pushed open the door to the apartment and flicked on the light, Lydia stepped in just behind her still talking, “I swear that tea ran right through me, but I have to get home soon, Mom is probably still wondering what happened to me earlier today.” Allison stopped walking and Lydia ran into her.

“Allison,” Alex purred at her affectionately, “I think it is time that Lydia and you start working together on finding Gerard.”

Lydia stepped to the side and stared at Alex sitting at the dining room table sipping tea, like he belonged there. Allison and Lydia then turned to each other and nearly simultaneously started, “You are working with him-”, Lydia finished, “too.” She was suddenly surprised to be looking into her best friend’s sparkling iridescent irises. They looked very similar to Alex’s bloodthirsty, creature of the night, eyes.

“Allison?” Lydia took a step back, as if that meager distance would some how put her out of harm’s way. Allison smiled a thankfully fang free smile, “It’s still me.”

Alex interrupted their little chat, “Allison will make an excellent assistant in helping you find out the information I need. She isn’t a vampire.” Yet, seemed to hang in the air, at least in Lydia’s mind. “She will be stronger and faster while under my thrall. It will make her more useful.”

Lydia turned to Alex, “Why are you talking about her like she isn’t standing right here?” Alex stood and walked toward the two of them. “She won’t remember most of what we are saying, you see, she is compelled to forget me, so if the hunters find out about her, she has no memory of anything.” Lydia shivered at the thought of having her mind so violated. “Don’t worry my pretty little flower, my mind tricks won’t work on any of the fae.” Lydia looked back to Allison who just smile at her as if to say, ‘it’s okay, no big deal’.

Alex plucked a large leather bound book off the table that Lydia hadn’t noticed before. He stepped across the floor like a cat, smooth and graceful. “This belonged to a friend of mine before, well, before Gerard.” The name caused a sneer to foul his elegant mouth, “It should help you learn to wield your abilities. You seem to have no lack of intelligence when it comes to books, I wouldn’t expect any less from one of the fae.”

Lydia looked down at the book, the cover was embossed with an interweaving pattern of ivy. She looked up and noticed that Alex was gone. Allison eyed her and then looked around the room completely ignoring the book in her hand, “You know where the bathroom is, right?”

Lydia walked down the hall toward the guest bath and wondered to herself how that even worked. Wouldn’t Allison notice all the chunks of time missing from her day? Did it seem like they just walked in the door and Lydia was standing there looking like an idiot? It couldn’t be healthy for anyone to have their mind messed with.

 

 


	11. Acid Rain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The hunters find a new friend, Isaac gets a little deeper into things, Stiles' brings home a stray, Rachel's powers blossom and Daz starts letting things slip. 
> 
>  
> 
> Okay, I seriously need some feed back on my writing. I feel like maybe I am too verbose. I can't seem to get anywhere in my storyline because I have too much story to tell. Anyone have any suggestions?  
> Tell me someone other than me is enjoying reading this, otherwise I can just write the story in my head and save typing it. 
> 
> I wanted to stay true to the way the story is told on TV, but I can't skip that much, and it is so hard to keep up with days and a timeline.

 

 

“Come on Drew, you are so slow!” Meg whined looking back down the sidewalk to where her slouching older brother ambled along as a snail’s pace. He quipped back, “I told you, no jogging, we are walking the whole way.”

They had left most of the tactical gear and dressed much more relaxed to head to dinner, but their Dad had told them to carry a least the taser and an extendable baton. Meg liked to lighten her load even more and carry an extendable baton that had been retrofitted with a taser. Andrew was the only one allowed to carry concealed firearms, so he had a handgun just under his arm, but he didn’t pull it out unless there was no other option.

Trish grabbed Meg by the arm and pulled her back. “You know he’ll tell Dad if we run ahead. Just relax and enjoy the night air. We should both be glad that Dad thinks we are safe enough to go to dinner. After Grampa and,” she cleared her throat softly, “Mom got killed, I didn’t think we were ever going to be able to go out of the house again.” Meg slapped at her sister’s arm playfully, “No, for real, I thought that we would end up being those lame homeschooled kids that never got to go out with their friends and lived in some kind of underground bunker.” Meg smiled, “Don’t get your hopes up, he still may.”

Trish stopped dead in her tracks and Meg almost got jerked off her feet in the process. She pulled her sister back into the doorway of a shop that was already closed for the day. The awning stuck out far enough to shade them from the streetlights and the traffic on the street was next to nonexistent. Trish quickly glanced back to check if Drew saw what she did. He was already around the corner of the alleyway watching quietly.

Meg grabbed her sister by the face and pulled her around to lift her eyebrows silently at her. She obviously hadn’t seen anything. Trish pulled her face free and lifted her chin to point her eyes at the roofline of the 3 and 4 story buildings across the street, her finger pressed softly against her sister’s lips to keep her silent. Meg waited quietly and then she saw it. A dark clothed figure was leaping from building to building, an impressive feat considering the span between them, and it looked like they were pacing the young man who was walking back the way they had came.

He didn’t look like anything special, just your average teen. It was odd that someone that young would be walking alone as late as it was. He seemed to be walking awfully slowly too. He had his dark green hoodie pulled up over his head, looking down at the sidewalk and walked with a bit of swagger in his step, dark baggy jeans dragged the concrete as he walked.

Meg looked back to Andrew and then over her shoulder at her sister, she whispered, “Should we do something?” The young man passed the point on the other side of the road that was directly across from where they were hiding. She looked back to Drew and held up her hand signalling him to stay where he was and then pointed from her to Meg and directed across the street. Drew shook his head no, but Trish was already pulling Meg with her onto the sidewalk.

They hurried across the sidewalk, an oncoming vehicle giving them reason enough to rush across the street without looking like they were giving chase. They walked at a inconspicuous rate trying not to draw attention to themselves from the dark figure looming over head. Meg pulled out her cell phone trying to look like they were just walking along minding their own business, and Trish smiled at her approvingly and mumbled something nondescript about the food at the diner.

The distance between them and the young man was closing pretty quickly even though they hadn’t went very far, probably due to the fact that the guy was walking so slowly. Suddenly he turned around and stopped to stare at the both of them.

‘Totally not what I expected.’ Trish thought to herself, the open mouth of her sister seemed to mean she felt the same. Once his hoodie was pulled back enough to see, the fair skin and pretty mouth of a young boy scowled back at them. He looked across the road to where Trish was sure her brother had just ducked behind a dumpster.

“Not only one tail tonight, but four? They must think I am going to be getting into some trouble tonight.” He talked like he was rougher than he looked, his voice a deeper baritone than expected.

Trish looked to Meg then back to the boy, “We were just doing to give you a heads up about someone on the rooftop following you.” He scrunched his nose up like he smelled something off, “You for real? Shit, I already know about China following me around. She does that shit every night, little spy for her Daddy.” He cracked his knuckles quite menacingly, gripping each hand in the other like he was planning on a fight. “What I want to know is why you fools think you need to play hero. How big are the brass balls you carry around in that tiny purse of yours?”

He stepped toward them and Trish was the first with her baton out, whipping it through the air to fully extend it. “We don’t want any trouble. So you best just keep walking.”

The boy smiled, a chuckle escaping his mouth, "let me guess. Hunters, right?" The smile fell off his face, "I fucking hate hunters!"

He rushed toward Trish bringing his fists up in a classic boxer stance and she sidestepped to deflect his punch with the cold metal. Usually she wouldn't hold back, wolves would heal from most anything she threw at them, and if they didn’t she really didn't care, but this guy wasn't a werewolf. She whipped the baton through the air striking his shoulder, the bruise should be motivation enough to stop him, but he barely even noticed.

He moved in closer nearly catching her with a fist to the face, but Meg moved in quickly and cracked him across the forearm with her baton. Trish winced, Meg had to have broken his arm, but he just grabbed at the baton and both of the girls were left dodging yet another punch.

Trish twisted around to one side and Meg the other, trying to divide his attention. He should have stepped back and tried to regain the upper hand, but he didn't seem to care. His hood fell back off his mess of tangled bleached blonde strands, the lithe muscle of his traps visible beneath a tattoo on his neck. Trish was done with this fighting before it had started, as much as she hated doing it, she was going to end it before her or her sister got hurt.

That meant this boy was going to get hurt. She waited until Meg drew him in with a feint and swung the baton firmly into the side of his neck. He twisted around and her guard was completely down, thinking the blow to the nerves in that part of his neck would have even a wolf on the ground.

The fist to her jaw rattled her teeth together and made stars dance in front of her eyes but she was still able to deflect the second fist aimed for her ribs. Meg planted a foot in the center of his back, it was enough to make him step off the sidewalk and gave Trish time to recover. It was short lived though, because by the time Trish shook the dancing lights out of her vision, he had caught Meg around the throat and slammed her back into the bricks. She shoved the taser tip of her baton into his neck to no effect, before losing her grip and dropping her baton. She was gripping his hand, fumbling in her attempt to loosen his grip.

Trish heard the slide of metal against metal as Drew clambered a round, "let her go NOW!" Meg was kicking him repeatedly in the shins and caught him in the gut a couple times too, but it just didn't phase him. Her face was beginning to turn purple as she beat her fists against his arms. It was like he didn't feel pain.

Trish rushed his back and slammed the baton across his spine. It was an attack that would paralyze most people, he just turned and reached for her with his free hand. "I said let her go!" Drew wouldn't shoot unless he had to, but it was shoot to kill, that's how they had been trained.

Suddenly, almost like they dropped from the sky, a person dressed in all black, wearing a charcoal gray mask with a red character painted across the jaw, appeared beside Meg. Trish missed what was said to the boy, but whatever it was, he dropped his hand from her throat and turned around to walk the other way. Trish watched dumbfounded at the rage bleeding from the young man vanished and he turned to go.

His eyes were unfocused and pupils blown wide as he walked past Trish. He seemed almost like a zombie as he stumbled by completely out of it.

The masked figure stood with the readiness of a coiled spring. Trish noted the katana on their belt and matted black throwing stars as she prepared to swap opponents, but the new person didn't move to attack. Their voice was muffled behind the mask, but it was clearly colored with a melodic accent from an Asian country, "you would do well to handle your vampire and leave. This town is not safe for the likes of you." The voice confirmed Trish's suspicions that the narrow shoulders and full hips implied, their ninja was a female. 

With that she leaped from the sidewalk to the edge of the windowsill, to the awning and using a quick handhold along the brick, launched herself to the roof. It was as if the rules of gravity didn't affect her. Trish watched the boy walking down the sidewalk the same way he was headed before, no hint that he had just gotten in a fight, the girl still trailing after him.

"Seriously, what the fuck?" Meg croaked, her throat irritated from the attack,"I don't even know what happened! Did she just save us from the guy we were saving from her?"

Trish turned around and frowned at Meg, Drew still had his gun pointed toward the roof, "He wasn't a wolf, no way he could have been that pissed without shifting, so, what was he?"

Drew holstered his firearm, "Let's go!" He started toward the diner and Meg growled, "Where are you going? Shouldn't we tell Dad about this?" Drew looked over his shoulder and Trish had the same incredulous look on her face, "Well, yeah, but first, you owe me a milkshake."

* * *

“So, it was definitely something supernatural, but not a werewolf and nothing like Jackson was either?” Scott was leaned forward on the kitchen table looking spent. Isaac pushed a bowl of soup in front of him and Scott looked like he was about to say he wasn’t hungry, but Isaac raised his eyebrows and looked at him blankly. Isaac could feel his hunger and utter exhaustion like a weight in his stomach, and if Scott wasn’t going to do something to alleviate it, he would have to take things into his own hands.

“It was not a lizard, but the teeth were more like Jackson’s than yours. Even, triangular teeth that looked like they were designed to saw through flesh, more than tear and rip.” Melissa was sitting that the other end of the table sipping a cup of tea. “The eye color was nothing like a werewolf, no gold, red or blue. One was shimmery like mercury or flowing metal, the other was violet or pink. I don’t know, fuschia?”  Isaac wished he had something better than tea to help calm her nerves. The ordeal with the supernatural, then the evening at the clinic, it was almost enough to push a person to a nervous breakdown. The whole room was full of emotional chemicals and pheramones, almost overwhelming Isaac’s senses.

He chewed nervously at his lower lip wondering if he should, but he just went for it, “Everyone is exhausted... maybe we can save this new dilemma for tomorrow?” He resisted the urge to touch Scott, to try to comfort him, maybe he was just trying to comfort himself. Scott had almost died, they could have all died. Sheriff Stilinski looked like he agreed, but the stench of guilt was only moderately exchanged for that of relief until he looked from Melissa to Scott.

“But-” Melissa began, but she was stopped by the Sheriff, “He’s right, anything you want to say can wait. It's been a long day for all of us and Scott has enough on his shoulders right now.” Melissa gave off the same indicators of guilt that the Sheriff was and it made Isaac curious what was going on.

“I have an officer posted at the hospital to keep an eye on the morgue and and outside the sleepers ward, anything else can wait till we have all had a good night’s rest.”

Scott was spooning the soup into his mouth slowly watching the adults and their cryptic tiny nods and cutting eyes at each other. Isaac couldn’t take the distance between him and Scott any longer and he pulled the chair out on the table next to him. When he sat down the only point of contact was his knee against Scott's, but it was enough to ease his anxiety. “Fine, we will talk about it in the morning after I get off, I have the whole day. But,” she gave the Sheriff a pointed look completely ignoring the boys as Scott reached out to wrap his hand around Isaac’s forearm. He didn’t know whether Scott was aware of what he was doing as he rubbed his thumb in soft circles against his skin, but it cured everything that was ailing him.

“You will be here in the morning when we all sit down and talk.” Sheriff Stilinski sank back into the back of the sofa he was standing next to, Melissa wasn't asking. “I have to find out what is up with my son, Stiles” his eyes popped up and looked around the room to see if anyone was paying attention. Of course Stiles, his only son that anyone knew about. “I still haven’t heard anything back from him and I haven’t had a chance to go by the house and check on him.”

Melissa sat her teacup down with a little more force than necessary and the Sheriff snapped his attention back to her, “Yeah, I will be here in the morning.”

She leaned back into her chair and the Sheriff lifted off the back of the sofa straightening the line of his uniform. Isaac noted the weight in Melissa’s eyes, it was something that she and the Sheriff shared perhaps that kept them anxious and guilt ridden. Her eyes wandered down to where Scott was still caressing Isaac’s forearm with his fingers while absentmindedly shoveling the soup into his mouth.  “Will you help Scott up to bed? And,” she worried her temple with the long fingers of her shaking hands, “make sure he stays put.”

How much did she know about Scott going out in the middle of the night? Did she know about Isaac sleeping in Scott's room? She must have been more observant than Isaac was. It had been weeks and he never noticed Scott leaving until the pack had figured it out together. Scott looked like he was a zombie, Isaac figured that he wouldn’t be shifting and going anywhere, but just incase, the pack had left their scent in the room.

He stood from the table pulling Scott up by his wrist and left the bowl on the table. The Sheriff was lingering like he had something he needed to discuss in private.

He didn’t let go of him the whole way up the stairs and Scott obediently followed like a puppy on a leash. Isaac pushed open Scott’s bedroom door and let go of his arm at the bed, Scott kicked off his shoes and fell face first onto the mattress fully dressed.

Isaac glanced around the room just in case, Jason’s shirt, Sam’s jacket, Ethan had even been nice enough to leave a pair of leather gloves. Isaac knew Jason had been the one to mention it because he just found them laying on the desk. Scott looked like he was probably already out of it, and as much as Isaac wanted to crawl right in next to his Alpha, he also wanted to avoid the uncomfortable elephant in the room. He pulled off the tank top he was wearing and draped it across the headboard.

He turned back to the door and started to step away and heard Scott shuffle about on the bed, “Hey,” he had fallen asleep and was adorable in his pouty voice, “where are you going?” Isaac stopped and turned around, he watched Scott lean up in bed and pull his shirt over his head. “I was heading to bed. Figured you might want your space.” Scott popped the fly on his jeans and pulled the zipper open shucking them under his butt as he lifted up. He flopped back on the mattress and put one foot into the air and shook his pants leg at Isaac, “Pull this, would you?”

Isaac stepped over and pulled the leg of his pants then grabbed the other and pulled the denim clear, dropping the jeans on the floor. Scott looked up at him with heavy lids, he almost looked like he was a little drunk, but Isaac knew better, he was drained. He reached down to grab the jeans off the floor and turned to haphazardly fold them and lay them in Scott’s desk chair.

It was surprising when he felt a tug at the back pocket of his pants, “What if I didn’t want my space?” He looked back to Scott who had stretched out of bed to reach for his cargo pants pocket. He let go and scooted back in the bed making a space for Isaac.

Isaac brushed a hand through his curls and twisted the toe of his shoe into the carpet. “Let me just grab some sweatpants,” and Scott was shaking his head softly back and forth, “No, it’s too hot for all that, just… come to bed.” Isaac stepped closer to the bed and pulled off his shoes, stepping on the back of them to pull his foot free, one at a time.

Scott surprised him again when he reached out toward the button on Isaac’s pants but stopped pulling his hand back awkwardly. Isaac watched as he sank back into the pillow, he imagined a faint blush coloring his cheeks.

He was watching. He was laying back in the pillows watching, like it was some kind of strip tease. Isaac suddenly felt so incredibly insecure, as if Scott hadn’t already seen him completely naked in the showers after lacrosse, but this was different. This was private, just the two of them.

The streetlight filtered in through the windows and the screen from Scott’s computer lit the room faintly as he licked his lips. His thoughts ran to what Scott could smell of  his attraction, he had to be able to tell, and this, well, this had to mean something.

He popped the button on his cargos. Scott preferred wearing boxers, but Isaac had always been a fan of briefs. Now he was rethinking that decision, the fabric of his briefs clung to every curve, while Scott's boxers hid a lot. He drug the zipper down and glanced up at Scott, He was relaxed back into the pillow, his eyes had a soft red glow around the iris.

It sent a chill of excitement knowing that watching Isaac undress was pulling at the wolf inside Scott. He bent, carrying his pants to the floor and stepped out of them. The heat flushed across his face would have been an impressive display of pink, if only the room were better lit.

He stood slowly pulling his pants up off the floor to fold and bent over to lay on top of Scott’s. He paused to imagine the view Scott had of his ass as he bent over, the underwear weren’t something he usually wore to school because changing in the locker room was homoerotic enough without low-cut spandex underwear.

Without looking back at Scott again, and losing his nerve, he stepped back and sat on the edge of the mattress. His heart was beating hard and he sat completely still for a moment, considering bolting for his bedroom in nothing but his underwear. Next thing he knew Scott’s hand was on his shoulder squeezing gently.

“No reason to get nervous. We’ve cuddled before, right?” The warm contact at the curve of his neck helped stabilize him, grounded him. He took a slow breath and the thought hit him. How much of this nervousness was his, and how much of it was bleeding from Scott? A soft barely audible “yeah.” escaped his lips.

He lifted his feet off the carpet and slid under the sheets still facing away as Scott’s hand followed his head and shoulders to the pillow. Scott curled around him slowly, the hand on his shoulder smoothing across his chest and down the plane of his abs to settle around his navel. The warmth of Scott’s chest pressed into his back and he felt his thighs pressed into the backs of Isaac’s.

It was comfortable, warm, relaxed, not that he wasn’t aroused by Scott, but the nonsexual appeal of platonic cuddling was outweighing the sexual at the moment, and Isaac was sure that Scott had to feel the same. Scott’s nose made a couple small circles around his shoulders and the heat of Scott’s breath against his skin had Isaac rethinking the nonsexual, but Scott interrupted the thought with a whispered, “Thank you.”

Isaac, confused, turned slightly to look over his shoulder searching for Scott’s eyes. They were hidden behind his dark lashes, eyes heavy, “for?” Isaac was pretty sure if Scott knew the backflips he was making Isaac’s stomach do, he would stop stroking his fingers along the band of his underwear. “For saving me." He pressed his lips softly against the back of Isaac’s neck sending cold chills down his spine. It wasn't quite a kiss, but the warmth of his mouth was tantalizing, "For feeding me soup… for taking care of me.” Isaac pressed his face back into the soft pillow smiling to himself. Scott squeezed him softly pulling him closer and  pressing an actual kiss into the curve of his neck, his damp lips dragging against Isaac's skin, “For staying.”

* * *

Jonathan stepped to the table and pulled out a chair to sit down. Melissa let out a long sigh, "You have that 'I've got bad news' look on your face, and as eager as you were to spare Scott any more worry, I doubt you are going to be so kind to me."

As tired as Scott was Jonathan hoped he was already asleep at this point. "Pretty sure that Seth is blackmailing me." Melissa gasped softly, "what?" "He dropped off a folder full of pretty incriminating photos on my desk. Interestingly enough Scott is completely missing from all of them. Stiles isn't." Melissa wrapped her hands around the cup of tea, "Maybe it's just a coincidence that Scott wasn't in the pictures?"

Jonathan cut his eyes at her, "Most of the time Scott was conveniently just out of frame, I remember being there for several and I'm even on quite a few myself. Also, any mention of him was left out of the reports as well. Melissa, I'm not sure his endgame, but Seth is not as out of the loop as you might want to think."

Melissa pushed her chair back and carried her cup toward the kitchen. "Yet another thing I will have to tell Scott about eventually." She stopped in the doorway and turned back to the Sheriff as he stood from the table "Do you think I'm a bad mother?" "What!? No! All of us have secrets we keep, even from people we love. It doesn't make you a bad mother. You are just trying to shelter Scott from things."

He crossed the room closing the distance between them to something a little more personal. "I'd say you are a wonderful Mother. Double that considering the fact that you have a teenage werewolf for a son."

Melissa watched the Sheriff's mouth as he spoke, glanced back to his eyes, "I'm dreading talking to him tomorrow. He has been through so much lately and I have been keeping things from him for so long. You better be here." Melissa leaned forward slightly like she was moving in for a kiss? a hug? Jonathan couldn't tell exactly which it was, but his heart did a flip in his chest about the same time his cell phone rang.

Melissa stopped suddenly and watched Jonathan read the caller ID and then glance back to her eyes, then her mouth, "I have to take this, it's the station." He watched as she chewed at her bottom lip, her teeth pulling the soft skin. Maybe she had been leaning in for a kiss.

She stepped into the kitchen, "Sheriff Stilinski, wait slow down, and what? No, that's fine, I'll be right there," he ended the call, "have to run." Melissa stepped back out from the kitchen and gave him a stern look, "tomorrow!" Melissa leaned into the chair at the table and dreaded her shift tonight. It was probably going to be slow, and give Melissa plenty of time to dread what was coming in the morning. 

* * *

The light emanating from the thin waxing crescent floating among the stars, was soft against the tree tops as Alex walked easily out of range of the cameras the hunters had set up. The scent of night blooming vines hung on the breeze and the heat in the air warmed his cooler flesh. Nights like this were the reason why he had agreed to accept the gift so long ago.

His little fae child was progressing slowly, but well enough with her newfound abilities and he had gotten comfortable with his plant in the Argent hunter family. The wolves didn’t even seem to care that he was in their territory, and things were moving along swimmingly.

‘Don’t even think it’ Alex told himself. He found that every time things were going his way and anyone said the cursed phrase, ‘what could go wrong’ the worse thing that could go wrong, did. Crap, did he think about it?

A shift in the breeze and a familiar scent that took him back decades stopped him in his tracks. He scanned the surrounding woods, his senses straining in concentration. She dropped out of the trees like a stone and landed with grace and power, limbs angled delicately like a ballet dancer. Sheer material billowed around her soft curves like she was swathed in fog and her pouty lips moved like punishment against his senses, “Lex, it’s been forever.” Her hair was dark as a raven’s wing, almost shimmered with that oil on water sheen of rainbow colors in the darkness, and hung in ringlets so perfect it seemed impossible. Then again, since it was a glamour, it really didn’t matter.

“Lily, it has been awhile.’ Alex swallowed his mouth suddenly dry, “You are looking as ravishing as ever.” He watched as the soft green of her eyes faded to a dull gray and her pink skin paled to a fairer complexion. “Careful nightwalker, I haven’t answered to that name in a long time.” Alex smiled a cautious testing of the ever shifting moods his evening companion was prone to.

“To what name are you answering my delicate desert flower?” She tilted her head back her dark lashes fluttered upward like wings of a shimmering butterfly as she was considering for a moment. “Jasmine will do, for now.” She said the name like it was inconsequential, “It matters not.” Her casual tone shifted, straight to business, “I wasn’t done with the young hunter you have enthralled.” She spoke the phrase as if Alex should have known better.

“My apologizes,” he looked away to the trees and then back to her, “Jasmine, it was not my intention to steal her away. I was merely looking for a spy in the hunter family.” Jasmine watched in amusement at the vampire plotting an escape route, “You wouldn’t get so far as the trees before I called your cold blood to the earth Alexander.” His eyes shimmered like jewels trapped in a deep pool, “You must be under the false impression that I would forget your name over the years nightwalker. I have a memory vast as the night sky.” Alex tried to look less tensed to run and Jasmine continued. “She was doing well in her tests, but I never did get the chance to press the envelope, and your cursed blood is blocking my will.”

Alex licked at the tips of his fangs, she had the effect on him no matter how much he wished he could prevent it. Her scent danced through the heat of the evening, it made his skin tingle and his heart wrench in his chest. “Oh,” Jasmine noted his descended fangs as his mouth hung slightly open and the light sparkling in his irises, “I forgot how you crave me so desperately. It must be sheer torture to ache with want for just a taste of something you can never have.”

Alex pressed his fangs into his bottom lip, the faint pain distracting him, “You will return her to me immediately.” she snapped out the order. Alex opened his mouth to argue that he couldn’t change the length of time that his blood stayed in her system, but Jasmine stopped him with a lift of her hand, “I know Lex, you will stop feeding her as of now, I will resume once your curse is out of her.”

The word “Yes,” was barely out of his mouth and she was gone. Alex clawed at his throat still feeling the fierceness of his thirst after her presence. He wondered how she did it, the fae were not preternaturally fast like wolves and the reborn, but she was there and then she wasn’t. He had considered that her impressive cloak might be able to conceal her even from his discerning eye, but her scent would have to remain, and the lingering delicate notes of her essence were dissipating as quickly as she disappeared.

And the is exactly why I never think ‘what could go wrong’, Alex wondered how this was going to affect his plans. The hunters probably didn’t pose much threat as it was, but he didn’t like taking chances. Taking chances got people dead, as in the permanent dead, and he wasn’t in any hurry to meet his final end.

* * *

The Park Ranger met Sheriff Stilinski as he was walking through the door and stopped him in his path. She was pretty, but the manner in which her mouth was tight and her eyes narrowed took something from her beauty, not to mention the soot and ash on her face and tight fitting forest green uniform.

“Sheriff, I think we need to speak in private.” Jonathan wasn’t quite sure what business the Park Ranger could have that the Sheriff needed to speak to her about, but he complied, “Um, Sure thing. My office is this way.” He walked the maze of cubicles and turned into his office followed closely by Ranger, he never caught her name. The tarnished name tag said Reading. Jonathan pulled the door to and watched the Ranger actually stomp to the other side of the room to turn and look him up and down like she was sizing him up for a fight.

“What can I help you with Mrs. Reading?” She sucked in a breath, “It’s pronounced Red-ing, and what you can help me with, is keeping your pyromaniac son out of my forest!” Jonathan’s eyebrows went up and his mouth dropped open, “That is a serious accusation, I was told the fire was started by heat lightning.”

Reading actually curled up her nose like something in the room stank, “Yes, the senior officers thought it best to write that in the official reports, even after I told them that I witnessed your son and his friend leaving the area covered in ash.” She dug her fingers into the fabric of the chair John had opposite his for guests or officers to relax in while chatting. It was apparent as she leaned into the chair her eyes getting wild and the tendons in her hands coiling like she was about to rip the chair in half, that she was in no mood to relax.

“They all just wanted to sweep it under the rug, ignore the obvious evidence of accelerant and act like it never even happened. Play nice and let the boy off scott free. Your son might have the protection of your station at his back, but that will not protect him from me.” That sounded like a threat, and he wasn’t going to stand for it, he crossed the room and got into the Ranger’s face. “Now wait just a minute! I will not stand here and listen to you threaten my son. I could easily throw you in a cell right now.”

The Ranger seemed amused at that, “Sheriff, you and I both know that a lot of what goes on in this town is outside of the law. The law doesn’t cover all the ‘different’ people that live in Beacon Hills.” A look of calm waved across her face and she took a deep breath. “You can play along with the teenagers and let them play hero if you want to. Alan seems to enjoy playing mentor to those dogs, but,” her eye twitched and the sneer found it’s way back on her mouth, she growled out softly, “Your little brat and his pet...” Jonathan was sure that a bit of spittle landed on his face from her venomous pronunciation of ‘pet’. She pinched her eyes closed and dug her fingers into the chair’s fabric even deeper.  He watched her nostrils flare, she was seriously pissed. Suddenly her skin seemed to crawl, cords moving just below the surface and John took a quick step back.

When her eyes popped open they were dark green all the way across, no iris, only a tiny obsidian dot in the field of green. The room was suddenly filled with the smell of rich soil, dank and heavy. “Your witch and his dragon nearly burned down my tree…. MY TREE!” She roared so loud that John was afraid someone would come to see what the noise was about. “Even that worthless Druid would agree that is grounds enough for me to defend myself. So, if I so much as see your son in my part of the forest again, you will NEVER. find his bones.”

She closed her eyes and drew a deep breath through her nose as her skin smoothed and she released the chair. When her eyes popped open they were back to normal. She stepped out from behind the chair and walked toward the door. Jonathan watched her stride past him like the conversation was the most normal thing in the world. She smiled at the officer’s desk just outside his office door in the most genuine manner.

Without looking back, she swung the door closed behind her as she stepped away. Jonathan shook his head and whispered to himself, “Shit Stiles, what have you gotten into now?” He figured it was too late to be calling Alan, but he would get an explanation in the morning.

* * *

Rachel considered the evening’s events as she punched the security code into the pad to open the gate. After yelling at a complete stranger outside the dance club, words she knew were straight out of another person’s head, she had not been able to turn it off. She went to the diner to try to drink some coffee and think, but the waitress touched her hand when handing her cup to her and the worry bled from the woman into Rachel.

It was 3 weeks along and her husband didn’t know about the baby yet. She was thinking of going to the clinic and getting rid of it, but her upbringing had taught her that it was wrong. The conflicting thoughts in her mind just kept circulating like two record players in the same room, continuing to play the same arguments over and over. Rachel had to deal with the worry for just a few moments, and it was too much for her, she could only imagine how the woman felt after dealing with the issue for days. It was maddening. It was no wonder that she had bags under her eyes. She probably hadn’t slept in a while.

Rachel didn’t know what to tell her, but she couldn’t sit and have all those burdens poured over into her. She paid the bill and left a good tip, she knew the waitress needed it.

Down the street was a dive bar, not a dance club like she had intended on going to, but a fake ID is a fake ID. She went in and the bartender eyed her and her ID three times before pouring her a cosmo, she was just starting to sip her chilled beverage when the overwhelming draw of lust filled her mind. It hit her like a bucket of frigid water, and the emotion gave its direction away easily. The man at the other end of the bar was nursing a large draft beer and smiled a yellow toothed grin at her when she looked up.

As his emotions paraded through her mind she tried really hard to just sip her drink and relax, but the taste of bile was raising in the back of her throat. She had to get out of there too.

Driving through some back roads and trying to calm her nerves was somewhat more fruitful. The air was still hot, but the breeze against her face, and the lack of people around was helpful.

As she pulled up the drive she thought there was no sense parking in the garage, she would just pull off the circular drive that wrapped around the water fountain, and move her car tomorrow. She noticed that her Mom’s car was pulled in the front as well, it was almost pointless for them to have a garage at all, much less room for six.

These heels were a great idea, she thought sarcastically as she stepped out of the car. Her feet were aching already and she hadn’t even did any dancing. She stepped slowly up the front stairs and pressed the latch pushing the door open. It was only out of courtesy that she was being quiet, that and not wanting to get caught sneaking in late, but in her defense, it wasn’t a school night.

It was a good thing that she was quiet though, or she never would have been able to listen in without anyone knowing.

Her mother’s voice is boisterous, “I know it needs to be dry to keep her from gaining even more advantage, don’t speak to me like I am a child. It is too risky, the mountain ash were nearly burned down, do you want all our work to be destroyed?” The other voice was hushed, Rachel could barely make out, “We are down one, she will have to be replaced as soon as we can. The others are almost ready to join, but we don’t have any more elders to replace the loss and we need to finish as quickly as possible.” A sharp clack like a glass being set down startled Rachel as she leaned just inside the doorway. “Why do you always do that? Like stating the obvious is the only thing you are capable of. I have things under-” her mother stopped mid sentence. “Are you expecting someone?” the other voice said. Rachel pulled the door back closed as she hear the sound of one of the kitchen chairs being pushed back.

She stepped back down the stairs as quietly as she could and then turned back to face the door pulling her heels off and rubbing her feet. The front door opened just about the time she dropped one of her shoes on the bottom step.

“Rachel, what on earth are you doing out this late?” Rachel tried to reign in her expression, “Just went out dancing, your shoes are so tiny, they are killing my feet.” The waves of distress that had been rolling off her mother waned and she clucked out a little laugh. “I told you that you could borrow them, I didn’t tell you to go dancing in them.” The humor was real, Rachel could feel the warmth behind it, but something was reserved, her mother was holding a secret that kept her emotions on high alert.

All these other people’s feelings were starting to get on her nerves. “I suppose I should trust you to be a responsible young lady, but knowing who’s daughter you are keeps me worried.” Rachel smiled, her mother had been quite the troublemaker when she was younger. All the stories that she had told them over the years about fights, parties, and sneaking out to go make out with boys. Rachel pulled the heel off the stair, “Believe me, I am nowhere as bad as you were. Just went to Jungle, met a couple of cute boys.” Her mom interrupted, “I hate to break it to you, but those boys were probably not interested in you.”

Rachel laughed softly as she walked past her mom in the doorway to the foot of the staircase, “Yeah, I know what kind of club it is. Well, I am beat, I think I will head to bed.” She didn’t want to press it, but something in her just wouldn’t let it slide. “Oh, how was work?”

Hannah turned away from her daughter about the time she asked her question. She pulled the door closed and turned the lock. When she turned back the emotion filling Rachel’s chest was cautious, “You know, I had forgotten all about asking off work, old friend called me up to remind me that we were supposed to be meeting for dinner.”

Rachel smiled grabbing the handrail, “That sounds nice, have a good time?”

Hannah smiled too, but her emotions felt anything but happy, “It was good to catch up. Good night baby girl.” “Night Mom.”

Rachel climbed the stairs as her mind spun around like a top. On top of being some kind of freak that could feel people’s emotions, her new found powers told her something seriously strange was going on in her own home.

* * *

Peter jolted upright in bed throwing his hands out to grab the blankets. It took him a moment to sort through his senses and realize that he was safe, in his own bed. The stench of dried blood was hanging in the room. No light came through the windows and he glanced over to the nightstand to check the time.

It was well after midnight but he was still aching as he continued to heal. Alan had offered to let him stay in a cot at the clinic until he had healed completely, he said he could keep an eye on him and offer him what painkillers he had available, but Peter could hear the disdain in his voice as he spoke. He knew when he had worn out his welcome.

Apparently it was quite frowned upon that he might have possibly been attempting to take advantage of Scott’s generosity to steal his Alpha status. The Sheriff had made vague threats about talking to Chris Argent about an upgrade in ammo, and Mrs. McCall had resorted to looking like an angry Mama bear, like that was going to make Peter see the error of his ways.

He pulled the bloodied tee shirt over his head wincing once or twice at the pull to a particularly painful twist of muscle. He thought for a moment of the bitch in New York. He wondered if it was even worth it to get involved. Probably not, but he would call the Alpha he had spoke with, odds were that they were already aware of the situation. He dropped the shirt to the floor and chided himself for buying designer shirts, as a werewolf he should know better, but he just loved the fit.

Alan wasn’t going to shame him into stopping, the Sheriff wasn’t going to scare him into stopping, and Melissa McCall sure as hell wasn’t going to accomplish anything with her contemptuous stares. They had no idea what lengths Peter would go to if it meant he would have the power to finish his vengeance. Inconsequential humans were merely stones to step on so that he could reach his goal.

He pulled himself up to the headboard on his elbows to relax into the pillows and ran his fingers softly across his chest, feeling for any leftover lines from the surgery. His skin was already healed, but deeper he could feel the dull pain in his ribs, they would take longer to heal.

He rolled to the nightstand and pulled his phone off the table, it was almost dead. He must have failed to plug it in earlier in his herbal induced stupor. Thankfully the Sheriff was still willing to do his civil service as he and Melissa drove him home.

Peter recalled coming up the elevator alone and unlocking his door, he looked over and saw the keys to the door in the floor next to the dresser. He didn’t recall everything that Alan had given him, but he trusted that the Druid wouldn’t stray from his code of honor. It was some serious herbal concoction though, he was sure that it was still dulling his senses and waning his pain.

The phone was in the red, but not flashing yet. He pulled up the messages he had recently sent.

Peter to Derek - If I don’t make it, you have to finish it. It wasn’t just Kate, it went much deeper. Find my files, get justice for our family. Do whatever it takes. Don't fail your family.

The message to Cora was still a draft. He couldn’t put this on her shoulders, not so young. He had considered sending the same message to her, he knew that she would be more likely to take up the cause than Derek would. She wanted to know, she wanted the truth and wouldn’t stop until she got it. Derek, well, Derek wanted to forget, he wanted to erase all the painful things in his past and move on.

Peter couldn’t do it. The memories were all he had, they were all he had to hold onto for the duration of his coma. They were the horror show that played across his eyelids on repeat. As painful as they were, as soul wrenching, they were his motivation, his drive, his reason for living. The memories were the fire burning inside him, if they didn’t fuel him, they would consume him instead.

He pulled his feet up from beneath the sheets and dropped them to the cool floor as he thought of his options. He held his head in his hands as he studied the lines in the floor. Alpha status was required, he needed if for the speed, for the power, in the event of healing he needed to do so quickly. He couldn’t even dream of trying without it. Still no trace of Derek or Cora, so without a pack he couldn’t vie for Alpha, even if he could just find one of them and get them to submit, it might be enough.

Weakened as he was he wasn’t going to be able to take Scott, especially now that Scott had a pack feeding him more power. He would have to resort to some serious trickery and manipulation to get that possibility. It seemed like the most viable option even if it was going to be difficult now that Scott knew he was after his Alpha spark.

There was one other option, but it was a long shot. It would require rebuilding the broken trust of a brilliant red head by the upcoming full moon, the worm moon. That seemed like a task even less likely than getting Scott alone and vulnerable without his pack or his hunter lover around. But maybe he could make it work if she thought of it herself.

His sense of smell wasn’t at a hundred percent with the Druid’s cocktail running through his veins, but even without, he could tell he needed a hot shower. Peter pulled himself up from the bed and walked toward the shower as he plotted. He peels his jeans off and stepped out of them on the way to the bath, his tight ass swishing as he walked. Why would she volunteer to do it? How would it benefit her?

The light from the bathroom accentuated the curve of Peter’s ass and it appeared that Derek wasn’t the only Hale to have gotten a tattoo.

* * *

Stiles sensed the presence of his Dad in the house just a moment before he twisted the knob and pressed open the door and Stiles sat up in the bed so fast it literally made his head spin, the bones in his forearm flared with pain shooting up to his shoulder as he pressed his hand to the mattress. “Stiles! you wanna tell me-” was cut off by Kai roaring, as he leaped up from the floor, the pungent chemical fumes of Kai’s breath filled the air as he grabbed the Sheriff by the shoulders pinning his forearm across the Sheriff’s throat. The Sheriff clawed at the thick forearm uselessly trying to pull him off. “Whoa Kai, whoa!” Stiles almost hit the floor when he hopped out of bed thinking that normally his legs weren’t like jelly, he could only imagine what things looked like to his father when he barged in Stiles’ room. He only noticed that Kai had let his father go when he found his warm hands gripping around his ribs. Kai may have caught him before he hit the floor, but his eyes never left the Sheriff.

Stiles glanced over Kai’s right shoulder to his father, weapon drawn and pointed at Kai’s head. Kai was staring down the stranger who surprised the sleeping quarters of his new master.

“Dad,” Stiles winced when he went to gesture with his sore arm and accidentally smacked into the side of Kai’s elbow, “this probably needs some serious explaining.”

Jonathan was very much the Sheriff at the moment, his gun was trained on the man holding Stiles up, but his finger wasn’t on the trigger just yet. “Yeah kid, I think this needs some explaining and REAL fast!”

Stiles reached out and turned the man’s face touching gently on his chin. Kai turned to look at Stiles, his eyes ringed in neon blue, “Kai, this is my father.” Stiles spoke slowly trying to calm him. “He’s the Sheriff, and he isn’t going to hurt me, or you. Okay?” Kai looked back at Sheriff Stilinski and Jonathan watched as his eyes faded to normal. Kai lifted Stiles back to his feet and then seemed to think better of him standing on his own and pushed him on the edge of the bed.

Stiles narrowed his eyes quickly realizing that Daz was not very present in his mind and glancing around the room, he was also nowhere to be found. The light was filtering in through the windows, it was still early, but morning. He rubbed at his aching forearm gingerly and did a quick mental assessment searching for a trace of the shadow inside. 'Daz?'

Kai sat cross legged in the floor at the foot of Stiles' bed leaning back into the leg of the bed as the Sheriff slid his sidearm back into its holster. Stiles must have been quiet for too long for his father's comfort because his meditation was interrupted by "Well?".

Oddly, Kai was the one to start talking, "I tried to convince him to seek medical assistance yesterday, but he was uncooperative." Stiles looked to the foot of the bed an appearance of betrayal on his face, the indignant noise he made hopefully conveyed his disapproval with Kai's willingness to rat him out. The sheriff eyed his son's arm with interest noting the thin red lines chaotically burned across his forearm. Stiles followed his Dad's eyes to his arm and his mouth drew into a flat line as he realized how bad it looked.

"I was going to go have it looked at today, I was just beyond exhausted yesterday. It was late..” He paused thinking about the trouble he was going to be in. He had less than no time to think up a convincing lie, and considering all the lies he had already told, and the secrets that he was being forced to keep, he wasn’t sure he wanted to lie any longer. “It was really late, when I got in and I had used up a lot of energy."

Jonathan crossed his arms across his chest. "Let's start with the stranger in your bedroom, with the glowing blue eyes, and we can go from there."

"He followed me home? Can we keep him?" Stiles wasn't surprised that it didn't even put a crack in his father's scowling face. "I summoned Kai by accident-" Stiles started, but was quickly interrupted, "summoned?" Stiles frowned, it was a lot to explain, and all of it tied into everything. He didn't really know where to start. He thought back to the last time he and his father had spoke in the hospital room. The truth was he was still kind of pissed at his dad for the secret he was required to carry.

That point was as good as any to start the story he supposed. "Back in the hospital, I asked you why you never told me. When I asked, I had no idea that you were keeping a different secret from me. What I wanted to know was why you never told me about my magic.”

Jonathan’s eyebrows squished together like he wasn’t buying the bullshit his son was trying to sell him. “Magic?” Stiles glanced at his nightstand, the smiling picture of his Mom always made his heart hurt a little, but he couldn’t bear to put it away, it would be like trying to forget about her. “I kinda figured that if Mom had blocked my memories, she would have done the same to you. I didn’t think about it at the time though.” He looked up from the photo to his Dad’s eyes. His father’s eyes were doing that processing thing, they went back and forth from Stiles to Kai to the frame on his nightstand.

“Magic.” He folded his arm across his chest, "and let me guess, Kai is a dragon." Stiles’ eyes popped open and dropped his chin to his chest, “How did you-” “A dryad came in my office to tell me that my witch of a son and his dragon almost burned down her tree and I had to call Alan to figure all that out.”

Jonathan crossed the room and plopped down in the chair at his son’s computer facing the blank screen. He twisted the chair around and leaned forward propping his bowed head up on his palms, elbows pressed into his knees. “So, your Mom used magic and erased our memories and you have a fire breathing dragon sleeping in your floor.” He didn’t look up as he talked to the carpet, “You know, I really felt like when I found out that Scott was a werewolf… that was going to be the weirdest thing that I ever had to deal with. Now, it seems like Scott was just the tip of the iceberg and we just keep getting deeper and deeper into this mess.”

He lifted his head and looked toward Kai who curled half his face into a smile, he noticed then that Kai was wearing his fat clothes from the back of the closet. Jonathan’s eyes studied at his son who was still cradling his injured arm. He reminded him so much of Claudia, headstrong and fierce, but also so very fragile. But then his memories of her could be all wrong, for all he knew he was in a coma dreaming all this. “Let’s go, need to get your arm checked out.” He hopped up from the chair leaving it spinning in his wake. Stiles sputtered, “But you haven’t even slept yet and-” “And, I am not going to get any sleep until I know my son is alright.” He looked down at Kai, “If I leave you here, you think you can try not to burn down the house?”

Kai stood up slowly with an odd look on his face. he seemed to be sizing up the Sheriff. Jonathan took a step back to look up when Kai reached his full height and looked down from his proud stance. The Sheriff curled his hand slightly thinking about the firearm at his side. “I believe I can keep myself occupied, you will keep the boy safe?”

Jonathan breathed out a sigh of relief, “I think so, I have had seventeen years of experience.” “Very well,” the massive man closed his eyes and bowed forward, like it was the most normal thing in the world. He couldn’t wait for the shit storm that would be his dreams tonight, or rather today, when he finally got in bed.

He reached for Stiles good hand and helped him up from the bed. Melissa is going to have a field day with you.

* * *

Hannah pulled at the lock with her mind, her will affecting the matter as if her hand were actually twisting the key and the bookcase swung open revealing another tiny library within. The shelves were filled with various objects and books, a spiral staircase that lead downward was I the back corner of the room. She stepped in and was followed by a slight looking woman with greying dirty blonde hair pulled back into a loose bun.

“Rachel’s powers aren’t active, they’re passive. She isn’t going to need any training for them to start working.” Hannah made a quick path around the handrail and started down the stairs. “You should have felt the pull she had on my emotions. If I wasn’t able to mask the majority of them she would have read me like a book.” Hannah turned back to the woman and paused for a moment studying the other woman’s face. For all her silver hair her old friend Evelyn still had a youthful face. The Austra family had been in the same social circles as Hannah’s for years. Magic social circles.

“She is going to be a very powerful empath, that is, unless you help me bind her.” Hannah turned to continue down the long staircase into the darkness below.

“You know how I feel about this Hannah.” Evelyn always put very little emphasis on the ‘H’ in her name making it sound like she was calling her Anna. Her voice was a bit of an indicator on her age, a slight gravel made it sound like she had smoked for years and was lilted with her Gypsy heritage. “We tried to meddle when Philip was coming of age and you see where that got us.” Hannah winced, Evelyn never pulled any punches. She was as forward as could be, blunt as a spoon Evelyn’s mother had warned Hannah years ago.

“Philip was too far gone.” Hannah twisted the silver band of the ornate ring on her pinky finger. It had been his ring, she kept all these years as a reminder of the child she failed. “We couldn’t help him, not after, well, you were there. Even the fae were frightened of him.”

Evelyn muttered as her hand slid along the handrail, “Would have been better to tell Rachel sooner, teach her what magic is safe and what is not.” Hannah turned just as she stepped off the last step, “NO!” candles throughout the wide room flared to life and reflected off Hannah’s wide eyes. “I don’t want her mixed up in this twisted town.” Her angry faded and voice softened, “She will live a normal life, meet a boy at school and get married, move away from this hellmouth and be happy.”

Evelyn simply pushed her glasses up her nose and pursed her lips, “Whatever you say Hannah. I don’t work for free though, you have what I asked for?” Hannah turned abruptly and put her hand on her hip waving her other hand through the air. “Why the hell do you think I brought you down here?”

Evelyn looked around, the circle was still drawn on the floor. Actual shackles were imbedded into the wall on the far end of the room. The West family had been practicing for many generations and their ancestry’s actions were questionable to say the least. The back half of the wide room was filled with rows of shelving, boxes of dark stained wood and bottles of amber glass were filling the shelves. If Evelyn ever needed anything rare she had only ask Hannah, or consult with Alan for fresher wares.

Hannah ducked into the back area weaving her way through the shelves, “You will be able to do this without her blood?” Hannah like to worry, it was her trademark. She was always worrying about something, no matter the day.

"Yes, I can do it without her blood, but I will need yours," Hannah peeked around the corner a frown on her face then disappeared back into the shadows, "and a complete circle for the ceremony."

 Hannah reappeared carrying a green glass bottle, a short volume of liquid in the bottom. "That's all you you have left?" Hannah tilted the bottle to inspect it's contents all sighed. "Unfortunately, but it is powerful. Talia gave it to me willingly. She thought I could help protect her and her family from that disturbed Argent woman." Her lips pouted, "Never had a chance to use it."

She handed the bottle to Evelyn, "it's preserved and diluted with some powerful additives for maximum potency." Evelyn tucked the bottle into her satchel and tugged the strings to close the bag.

"Now, for Rachel." Hannah interrupted, "I have no corner for fire, but earth is covered." Evelyn smiled, "I know someone who will do. In a pinch."

* * *

****  


 

Even when her eyes popped open they met an oppressive darkness that even her vampire sight couldn’t see into. Winter vaguely remembered the gas that slowly filled her cell earlier, gasping for breath and feeling the panic and anger force her teeth down into her mouth. Now she was laying on the cold cement floor again, the familiar dead limbs she had felt earlier on the examination table.

A faint wind of breath heated the skin of her lips, and a whisper filled the silence, “I’m supposed to remove your memories.” It was the same voice of the boy she had spoke to over the intercom. “But I don’t trust them anymore.” He sounded frightened, so unlike the voice he had earlier, “I found the others, they… they aren’t helping them. They were never helping them.” A thumb gently caressed across her cheek and she jerked away surprised. “I’m sorry, I have to touch you to entrance you, and I have to entrance you to feed. I hate to, but I must. If I come out without feeding they will get suspicious. Mother will know, she always knows.”

Fingertips ghosted back and forth across her neck where the feeling started and stopped. The feeling was more than she could say she ever felt before. It was like an electric buzz under her skin. The sensation sent chills up the back of her scalp and tingled across her skin. It made her wish that she could feel the rest of her body as she was sure the waves of pleasure would roll across her, down to her very core.

“You’re very pretty.” The boy’s hand cupped her jaw and thumb pressed softly across her lips. Winter was sure that if she actually winter, he was the on coming summer. His heat would be her ruin, melting her ice and heating her to her depths. His other hand combed into her hair timidly dragging his fingertips into her scalp.

Winter heard a girl moaning, and realized suddenly that it was her. She gasped, “What… what are you going to do.” She could suddenly see a faint light, two in fact. She assumed it was the glowing pupils of his eyes, “I am just going to taste you,” the lights disappeared as he blinked, “I promise not to drink much of your qì.” His pupils got closer, glowing brighter and the hand cupping her jaw tilted her head back gently. It seemed like an eternity as his face sank closer to hers, the glowing pupils disappeared and reappeared, then were softly hidden by his lashes, and then his mouth was on her lips. She parted them willingly and his breath was warm inside her mouth.

The next sensation she felt was like falling and flying all at the same time. It was like the rush of a rollercoaster, if she could feel her heart it would be slamming against her ribs. Her throat was freezing and on fire, she never wanted it to stop. She was suddenly angry about the fact that she was completely immobile, her fingers wanted to touch. She wanted to curl her body into his and feel his warmth against her frost. Before she could even process everything that was going on, it was over.

The door slammed open and the lights flipped on flickering harshly overhead. The boy was cast into strong contrast, a shadow against the piercing bright.

“Is she wiped?” It was the voice of the lady from the exam room. “Yes mother.” The boy’s shoulders were wide and his hair cut short, other than that, she couldn’t say what he looked like. “Good, now she will be more docile, perhaps we can save her.” The boy’s head nodded in agreement. “The phrase?”

“You interrupted me before I set it.” the boy was very submissive to his mother, the tone of his voice gave it away. “Adam, I know you need to feed, but you can’t take all day with these things. We have other things that need to be done.”

Adam looked back down to Winter and leaned closer. As he did, the overhead lights were blocked out and the light reflecting off the walls highlighted his face. Winter tried not to let the fear show in her eyes, but the wince in Adam’s eyes was impossible to miss. “When you hear the phrase, the white lotus, you will immediately fall back into this trance and be open to all suggestion from the person who utters it.”

Winter tried to look past his skin and concentrate on his eyes, she knew that they were both being watched by the woman. “If you understand, nod your head.” Winter complied.

From all she knew of the boy she should trust him, she shouldn’t be afraid, but his skin was covered in angry red scars, dark veins lacing through them. He smiled looking somewhat pained, “You never need fear anyone here at the white lotus, we will protect you.”

“That’s good, lets go. I need you to finish feeding. You look awful.” The woman pulled Adam up by the back of his sweatshirt, the bright lights again blinding in Winter’s eyes. “Wait.” He pulled away, “She should rest till the toxin wears off.” As the woman stepped out of the room she replied hastily, “I am waiting.”

Adam kneeled over Winter again and swallowed nervously. “I’m sorry, I haven’t been feeding like I am supposed to.” He rubbed his fingers across his face, “It’s hard knowing what-” “Adam! Let’s go.” Adam leaned closer and his pupils lit up, his lips parted and whispered, “Sleep.” Unconsciousness swallowed up Winter’s existence.  

****  


* * *

“How do you even do these things to yourself?” Melissa had wrapped Stiles’ arm loosely in cotton bandages after applying a liberal amount of burn cream to his skin. She slapped the x-ray up on the viewer and flipped on the switch. “The radius bone carried the majority of the current and it is cracked like something I have only seen in in house fire victims. You have a couple hairline fractures of the ulna.” She ran her fingers along the x-ray film and then looked back to him sitting on the exam table. “I am amazed you aren’t dead Stiles.”

John looked at his son with an irritated face and stepped out the room to check that no one was going to interrupt them. They had agreed before coming up to have Melissa look at things, that they would tell her that he had shocked himself trying to hotwire his Jeep. It made the most sense without raising too much alarm. Still, they didn’t want to see a regular doctor, odds are they would admit him again for not thinking clearly after his recent release, or maybe have him committed.

“You are lucky that it discharged out your elbow and didn’t go through your whole body to the ground.” Melissa huffed out a sigh, “You know your Dad has a hard enough time without adding more to his plate. You should remember that when you are pulling one of these stunts.”

‘Your father still wears his wedding band.’ It wasn’t a question, just a statement, plain and simple inside his mind. Stiles wasn’t even sure if Daz had meant to let Stiles hear. It was the first thing that Daz had said in hours. ‘Yeah, he does. And?’ Daz didn’t reply.

“I’ll have to do a temporary cast, those burns need ointment applied twice a day and you won’t be able to do that with a permanent cast.” Stiles nodded. Stiles was searching for Daz, trying to feel for him in the darkness. “I don’t know if the burns will fade or not, but odds are you will have several of them forever, a permanent reminder of how you were a bone headed teenager.”

‘He’s never taken it off, not once since your mother passed?’ The voice surprised him, suddenly loud and seemingly right behind him and he jumped. “You okay Stiles?” Melissa stepped closer and looked into his eyes. He pulled down and eyebrow and made a duck face, “Pssh, me? I’m fine. No problem. ADD, hard for me to sit still.” ‘He never had a reason to take off his ring.’ “Scott mentioned that you haven’t even texted him since you got out of the hospital. Are you sure everything is okay?”

Stiles’ hands were scratching his eyebrow and pulling at his earlobes as he fretted under the scrutiny. He wondered to himself how much of it was just an act to play the part of a hyperactive teen and how much was really him. ’I think that he is still in love with her, even though she is gone. I think he always will be.’ “I just have had a lot on my mind. I will get together with him soon.” Stiles didn’t know how, but Melissa could see when he was lying, but never called him on it. Sometimes he wondered if he got a free pass since he was keeping Melissa and his Dad’s secret.

“Well, I mentioned it to Isaac when Hannah asked, that you might be free to help him move some of her stuff. She has all this stuff in her attic that she wants put in storage.” Melissa kept talking as she was going about forming the temporary cast out of heated foam. “I think she might actually be in the process of moving out. I don’t know how she can afford to live in that big house as it is, but then, I guess she did come from old money.” Daz muttered, ‘West?’ Melissa wrapped the thin foam around his arm lengthwise and wrapped it with an elastic bandage it as it cooled.

“Who is Hannah?” Stiles blurted. “Oh, just one of the nurses here, her family has been here as long as the town has, kind of like the Hales.” “What is her last name?” Melissa looked up from the cast puzzled, “West, did I not say that already?” Stiles shook his head no and felt Daz’ growing excitement. He wasn’t sure why, but he was about to find out.

“Anyway, Isaac has been trying to keep the whole werewolf thing under wraps, so another person helping would make it a little more believable.”

Stiles wrapped the sling Melissa handed him over his shoulder and slid his arm into it, “You don’t think that this,” gesturing to the sling with his free hand, “might give something away?” She frowned, “Yeah, I guess you are right.”

‘Tell her you will figure something out.’ it felt like Daz was prodding him in the brain and he actually winced. “Tell Isaac I’ll be there. I’ll figure something out.” He smiled at Melissa, “You know me.”

She dropped the packaging from the cast in the garbage, there was warmth in her voice when she mocked, “Yeah, unfortunately.”

****  
  
  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you are reading, please leave feedback. I know WIP isn't really fun to read, but it is even more difficult to continue writing without encouragement.


	12. Weaving Webs

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have been super slack in not posting chapters but summer is the busy season for hotel workers, and I got to make money when I can. Hopefully I will have more free time to write chapter's faster this fall/winter. Maybe I didn't lose all my interested readers. 
> 
> Does 20 pages of reading material translate into a pretty good sized chapter to you? I could try to make them longer, but it seems like too much.

****  


He had skipped out on Stiles and Melissa yesterday in the middle of Stiles getting his cast put on, and now he was bailing on Melissa and his other son for yet another emergency. He was currently in route to Mr. Pate’s house, Deputy Graeme had found something interesting when she came to relieve the other officer on watch but, repaving in the suburb gave him far more time to think about other things.  
Other son. That had to be one of the weirdest things he had thought in a while, and considering the fact that he was thinking about Druids, Dryads, Dragons [oh my] and more, that was really saying something. Scott was his son, biologically, but not really. He never raised him. He never did all the things that mattered, changing, feeding, potty training. He laughed to himself, potty training Stiles was hard enough. He would get distracted in the middle of peeing and walk across the room to look at something that he noticed.

The radio crackled to life and an officer reported an accident that wasn’t serious, but was probably contributing to the back up on his route. He considered flipping the lights and sirens but then he thought to himself that he might as well enjoy the break.

Yesterday probably wasn’t so important, but he figured that Stiles was going to take a bit to get everything looked at and wrapped up, so he thought he would be fine taking care of a call from an old friend. Boy was he ever wrong.

He had set Calvin up with one of Claudia’s old friends, Zane. He worked in the artsy run down, part of downtown in an art studio with a loft apartment above it. Zane was one of those eccentric types that had more money that sense, and an apartment he didn’t use, plus a mostly abandoned studio. Zane was flighty, but he could appreciate good art when he saw it, and Calvin had good art.

When he had gotten there Calvin wanted to file a missing person’s report, but it turns out that someone had stolen one of his sculptures. He tried over and over to explain that they weren’t people and he couldn’t file a missing person report for a statue, but Calvin just got madder that John wouldn’t do anything for him. “After all they had been through in the past,” He had said, “He couldn’t believe that he was going to refuse to help him.” Jonathan shook away the memory of yesterday and found himself thumbing his wedding band around his ring finger. It was funny, he remembered Calvin and knew they were old friends, but he couldn’t really remember anything that they had ever really… ‘been through together’. His son’s words played back in his head. What if Claudia had done something to his memory.

He wrote up a report for the stolen art and contacted Zane who was in Paris to see about getting security footage from his server. People these days couldn’t have tapes anymore, that would make things too simple. Calvin was adamant that he would deal with this himself if he needed too. John shook his head as the car just in front of him turned on their emergency flashers. ‘Probably ran out of gas. Guess Shelly is just going to have to wait.

He grabbed his mic to radio the distressed driver into dispatch.

 

* * *

 

 

“I told you that following Colleen was a good idea.” The muffled words came out of Peyton’s mouth as soon as she pushed the office door open and Ava looked up from her reading at the desk marked with a placard that said AVA VETTINGHAM in bold dark letters and narrowed her eyes. The office like the hallways were cold and sterile looking, concrete, stainless steel and glass. Windowless boxes holding a myriad of offices, cells and labs. “I have told you, Colin has clearly expressed his preference on multiple occasions, and following him is a waste of time. He is fully programmed and will do exactly what he is told.”

“Well,” Peyton pulled her hood back and unclipped her mask hooking it to her belt, “HE almost took out a group of hunter kids while walking home.” She crossed her arms across her chest and licked her lips, “did you order HIM to attack any hunters along the path?”

Ava folded the cover of the file she was reading over, “No,” pulling her glasses off the end of her nose she eyed the girl’s nearly mocking stance in the middle of the room, “We can’t account for every facet of the day. The important thing is that none of the normal population are hurt. We are here to protect the human race in a way that the hunters can’t.”

Ava leaned forward on her elbows and studied the young lady, she might be a highly trained assassin with still unknown supernatural abilities, but even she had been programmed. It was important not to let them know that they had been tampered with, it made them feel like they weren’t in control of their own thoughts. That never worked out well. But even her father didn’t know that Ava had Adam plant a control in her. He would never agree to have his daughter and niece involved in the company if he thought they were treated as the others were.

“Does your father know that you have been working ops without orders?” Peyton slouched slightly and Ava narrowed her eyes, “Yes, I thought not.” She pulled out the bottom desk drawer and slid the file in among others. “I am glad that you kept Colin from getting into trouble, the last thing we need is the law getting more involved in things than they already are. I still have no idea how I am going to clean up the mess that Malia left for the police to find.”

Peyton pulled a ring dagger from her waist and started twirling it on her finger, “I told you that you should have sent me on that job. Malia is too unstable, she stays in a half shifted state like she is feral or something, and Jordan is way too passive to be teamed up with her, she walks all over him. I mean, he heals and can fight, but he really needs to get a backbone. I mean he doesn’t even have augmented strength.”

“His passive gift is calming on Malia. It was supposed to be a simple pick-up, but the,” Ava paused standing from the desk, “You know, why don’t you just keep your opinions to yourself. This company has been in operation long before you, and will be in operation long after you are gone. And if I find out you are running ops without orders again, I will let your father know. Or maybe I should just let Adam give you the kiss?”

Peyton slid the dagger back into its sleeve and unsheathed her katana enough for the silver blade to shine in the light of the office, “He can certainly try.”

Ava grinned to herself, Adam ever got hungry, truthfully hungry, she would never even see him coming. She felt proud that she had found Adam and endeared him to her. He would never question that she was his mother. And she would always have the most beneficial tool at her fingertips.

 

* * *

 

 

Melissa pulled out her phone and checked again for a text response from the Sheriff. Nothing. She huffed out a sigh and looked around to the entrance door still waiting on Seth to show. He was late as always. She didn’t need this stress.

She was sitting in Beacon Beans, a hipster coffee bar that was pretty popular with the high schoolers, but mostly before or after classes during season. It was pretty slow this hour of the day and she wanted a coffee. Hell, she deserved a coffee. Why was she even debating this to herself? Five bucks wasn’t going to make a house payment.

John had disappeared while she was putting a cast on Stiles’ arm and then wasn’t responding to her or Stiles’ messages. After waiting at the hospital for an hour, she finally just took Stiles home and dropped him off. She put on her best Mom face and made Stiles promise he wasn’t going to do anything stupid again before leaving him there unsupervised.

After coming home to a surprisingly clean house, she didn’t have anything to do, and after the energy drink she had to stay awake last night, she wasn’t going to be able to sleep. Luckily she had the whole day and night off before she went in on second shift tomorrow. She had double checked the laundry was done, the trash was taken out, and there was even some sandwiches in the fridge for Scott to take to work tomorrow.

She sipped her frappuccino and frowned a little, having a young man in the house that was brought up in a strict, abusive household had its perks, but she wished that it didn’t come from a place of such pain. Isaac was a good kid, and he didn’t deserve the cards he had been dealt.

She fingered the condensation on the outside of her drink and pulled out her phone again. Nothing. Looking back to the entrance she pulled up the Sheriff’s contact and called him, it rang and rang then went to voicemail. “You have reached Sheriff Stilinski, if this is an emergency, hang up and dial 911. Please leave your name and number, a brief message, and I will get back to you as soon as possible.”

“When I said you were supposed to be here this morning, I meant it. You are so lucky that Scott decided to go into work early and I didn’t have to talk to him alone.” She huffed out an exasperated breath. “I got to thinking about things and I guess it is for the best that we didn’t get to talk to him. It would have been seriously wrong to sit down and talk to Scott without Seth present. So, you are off the hook for now, but I seriously don’t understand where you got to.” She paused like she was expecting a response from the voice message system, “Anyway, I dropped Stiles off for you, hopefully he keeps out of trouble. Call me when you get this.”

She hit end and sat the phone down next to the puddle of condensate from her drink and put the straw to her lips as the new station weather report came on the TV in the corner of the room. “Looks like those miserable temperatures that we have been getting are going to be eased up a bit in the coming week. We have a surprising low front moving through and it is packed with a lot of moisture, and with temperatures dropping outside, we can expect some pretty steady rain over the next couple days. We’ll have more details later in the broadcast. Up next...”

Melissa heard the brass bell hanging on the door pull jingle and looked up to see Seth walking in. Files were sticking out of the messenger bag he had thrown over his shoulder and he walked up frowning sheepishly. “I know, I am late.” He paused and looked around, “Wasn’t John supposed to be here?”

Melissa’s eyebrows were still high as she picked up her drink and took a slow sip from the straw. Seth watched her and then dropped his bag in the chair, “I got tied up with work.” Melissa sat her cup down in the same ring of wet next to her phone. “Oh really? You want to elaborate on that?”

Seth sat in the chair that wasn’t full of his bag and groaned, “You know I can’t tell you, it is confidential.” “Yeah, we have done this song and dance long enough for me to know how it ends, I don’t know why I expected now to be any different. Pretty much the reason our marriage ended, but hey, let's not dredge up the past. Look.” She took a deep breath and blew it out through pursed lips. “I am going to tell Scott the truth.” She watched Seth’s expression for any hint of what he might be thinking. It was pretty blank, so she just continued,  “I want you and John to both be there. So… try to figure out a good time in your schedule and let me know.”

Seth looked like he was about to throw up or his brain might have just checked out for the rest of the day. He finally opened his mouth and mumbled. “Yeah, I figured that he would have to know eventually.” He looked down to the table top and raked his hand through his hair. Melissa noticed that he was kinda greasy like he hadn’t showered. His stubble also looked like it had been a couple days past normal. Melissa leaned in a little closer and Seth seemed to realize he was under scrutiny, “Are you okay?”

Seth sat back in his chair and smiled a weak smile that didn’t even wrinkle his eyes. “Yeah, just really busy trying to, well, just… really busy.” He pulled himself out of the chair and grabbed the handles of his bag, “I’ll let you know about talking to Scott, think I will grab a coffee for the road.”

With that he walked away to the counter and left Melissa wondering. With everything odd that was going on in her life, she was curious what might be going on with her ex husband.

 

* * *

 

 

 Allison pulled the covers back up her chilled shoulders and then sat straight up in bed. If felt like something was off, that intuition that warned her when she needed to be extra careful, extra aware of her surroundings. She couldn’t ever figure out where it came from, but she always used it to her benefit.

She pulled her feet out of the sheets and dropped silently to the floor. She made her way across to the door and pulled it open slowly. As she walked down the hallway toward the door she noted that it was standing open and paused to listen. A scuff of a shoe on the floor in the living room caught her attention and she carefully made her way to the edge of the door frame. She paused breathing in slowly and then whipped her head around the corner and back. A smallish blonde young woman was standing in the living room facing away from the door.

Allison stepped around the door and walked quietly up behind the girl, she took note of the block of kitchen knives on the counter just in the other room should she need to dive for one; a wooden broom handle would also make an excellent weapon depending on what she was dealing with. A werewolf would have scented her or heard her, same for a vampire. Stopping just out of reach to give her some room to maneuver, she cleared her throat.  

The girl screamed a quick shout and dropped her phone in the floor, it skipped across the hardwood as she turned around, “Oh, my Gawd, I thought you had been robbed, I was just about to call the cops.” Allison looked surprised as the girls clutched her chest and gasped her breath. Her southern drawl was endearing, but Allison still didn’t know what the hell she was doing in her house.

“Your front door was standing wide open and I knocked and called out.. “ she swallowed dramatically under Allison’s scrutiny, “No one answered, so I came in to check if someone was hurt.” Allison eyed the girl cautiously, her face seemed to carry the sincerity in her voice.

Allison walked through the living room keeping an eye on the girl. Nothing looked out of place. Her father would be out with the Rancourt’s checking abandoned buildings, which Beacon Hills had far too many of, for any signs of the vampire. The girl reached down to pick up her phone, her blonde curls bouncing with the motion.

“I just moved into the building, all the horror stories people told me before I moved to California, bout people getting killed and robbed, I just figured that I should check on you and your family.” She smiled weakly, “I’m Rose by the way. I’m just down the hall from you.”

Allison was still unsettled but smiled and put her hand out, “Allison.” Rose shook her hand softly, “I’m not sure why the door would have been left open, but I will definitely mention it to my Dad and double check the valuables, but it doesn't look like anything's missing.” That wasn’t the end of it by any means, but the girl seemed to be on the level.

Rose looked unsure what to do at this point. She stepped toward the door, “Well, It was nice to meet you.” She turned to head out the still open door and stopped, “I was just about to message my new friend Danny and see if he wanted to go walk around at the mall.” Allison tilted her head a little to the side, she realized she reminded herself of Scott and shook the thought away, “Danny Mahealani?” Rose pause and shrugged, “I’m honestly not sure his last name. Adorable warm golden brown skin and dimples for days, but gay as the day is long.” Allison smiled and shook her head, “Yeah, that is Danny.”

Rose smiled, “I ran into him yesterday when he was breaking up with Stiles and got stood up by his new bf Ethan, but turns out that Ethan had been in a car accident.”

Allison was sure her eyes were betraying her with her disbelief as Rose continued, “But don’t say anything to him about breaking up with Stiles, he didn’t even want to admit that they were dating. He seemed really stressed about it though.”

Allison was laughing on the inside as she looked down at her nightclothes, her heart did a little cartwheel and she reached up to cover the mark on her shoulder. “Yeah, let me change and I will definitely go with you.”

Rose pulled her phone back up to her face and smiled, “I’ll message Danny, you get ready.” She sank into the cushions of the sofa and Allison made her way back to her room. She pulled her bedroom door closed and walked to the dresser to let out a sigh of relief. She looked to the shoulder of her nightshirt, it covered the bruising on her shoulders that she had told Lydia about. She pulled back the fabric and in her mind the twin scabs about an inch and a half apart and crescent shaped line of evenly place marks, looked just like four bruised fingerprints.

“Danny’s game, you ready yet?” Rose’s voice shrilled from the other room. “Just a minute,” Allison yelled back and stepped to her closet.

 

* * *

 

Rachel puttered around the house for awhile after getting up. At first she had woke up with a lot of anxiety thinking that she was going to be bombarded by people’s emotions all day. She couldn’t shake the emotions that she had been feeling the previous day, the intensity of them seemed to haunt her. Oddly enough, she hadn’t felt anything since she woke up that morning, and was about to say it was just some odd fluke.

She got a shower, got dressed, and ate breakfast all without sensing a single thing from anyone. She figured that the emotions must have a proximity, but she wasn’t sure what that would be. At points throughout the morning she felt herself testing to see if she was feeling anything, almost missing the sensation of other people in her mind.

She was ready to write it off as something like a visit to the twilight zone and forget it ever happened until the delivery driver came to drop off her luggage from the flight. Everything was normal until she reached outside the door to take the DIAD from him to sign for her suitcase. As soon as she did, a wave of emotion from the driver hit her. He was having a real bad day, and even though his face didn’t show it, he was just pissed. When she handed the DIAD back with her signature on the screen she tried to smile and sound genuinely grateful for her luggage. The gesture was definitely noted on his demeanor and it made her feel a little better.

The emotions seemed to stop as soon as she stepped back into the house. She paused setting her bag down just inside the door and stepped back out on the steps. The delivery driver was walking back to his truck, but she could still feel his lingering anger. She backed into the doorway and slowly stepped inside. As soon as her body was all the way back inside the door frame, the feelings stopped.

She didn’t want to pass up the opportunity and put a single finger against the door frame and slid forward until she was just past the seal. The emotions were faint, but there.

She needed to get a handle on this and it felt like she couldn’t trust her mother with it. Something about the way she felt the night before had her wary of her own mother. She thought back to the boy that she had knocked to the ground. He hadn’t seemed completely freaked out by it and he was by far the strongest emotional force she had encountered. She weighed her options and shrugged. It was as good a place to start as any.

Rachel pulled out her phone and sent a text to Danny. This was going to seem weird, texting him out of the blue, but he had given her his number. Maybe it was just coincidence that she ran into someone else that had dealt with something like this before. Rachel doubted that was going to be her luck, but a person could always be hopeful.

 

* * *

 

 

The day had gotten off to such a nice start Lydia thought, after the gift from Alex she came home and started right away with the book. She was so thankful that it wasn’t a book full of useless crap about theories on magic or fairies, it was serious information. It had sections on different magics, and lunar cycles, and complex cosmic alignments that provided the energy of the universe to use. She had to pull out her physics book and make comparisons.

She didn’t believe it at first until around 3 am she finished the calculations proving the chart in the book was correct about the alignment of several star system in the milky way galaxy, and even using physics, the flow of energy could theoretically be harnessed and used, but she wasn’t sure how. It had her mind racing with possibilities.

The book had chapters on crystals and their ability to store and augment energy and carry the will of the caster, natural materials that would aid in directing the energies required to perform spells, and darker magics involving blood and sacrifices. Different types of powers, the elements of fire, wind, earth, and water. A fifth element called aether was a major component of cosmic energy, she decided it was what science referred to as dark matter. The book offered ways to wield energies granted, will power, breath, and blood. A huge section of the book was herbs which made her think back to the shelves Alan had and the many uses that they might hold.

So she hadn’t slept much the previous night, but she was absolutely engrossed in the new information. The book beginning was all about the different types of magic and the different ways that people performed it. The power behind the acts was always mental, either a force of will or an act of faith provided the necessary direction and then the energy was pulled from one or more of the forces all around us.

She took a power nap around 5 and then started making notes. The fae concentrated mostly on earth magic, drawing their power from the things in nature. Most of their magics involve balancing nature like the Druids, growth and decay, weather, etc, but some of the fae feed off of cosmic energy. Banshee fae are interwoven with the cycles of life and death and are supplied with power from the life force of those around her along with power from the source of life, the earth itself.

She even found the details to what Peter was able to force her to do. It was a complex web of magic that let her use the life force of those she had dosed with herbs at the party, the power of the full moon, and Derek’s Alpha spark to raise Peter from the dead, restoring his spirit which he had attached to her via the bite. The only full moon that was able to provide such power was at a particular alignment, the worm moon. Interestingly enough, it was coming up toward the end of the month, near her birthday.

She kept reading hoping that she could find a way to possibly reverse the spell, but it seemed that killing him again would be the only way to fix it.

The part that had made her pause and catch her breath was the section describing the cloak of woven light. The fae were the only ones capable of weaving light into tangible material and were able to use it to hide themselves among the humans.

She paused to look at her hand, turned it over in the dim light of the room. Everything she saw was a facet of light coming off her cloak. None of this was real. She wondered almost frightened at what she looked like beneath the cloak.

Lydia pulled the book back into her lap and looked at the cloak description again. The cloaks were made to varying degrees of quality, the royalty had cloaks that were made from starlight, finely spun and tightly woven, they bound and protected against even the most corrosive metals.

The knock at the door startled her from the book. Her mom shouldn’t be home, she was going to be gone all day, and Aiden told her that he needed to spend time trying to pander to McCall so that he could try to get in his pack. So he was going to try to talk to Ethan and figure out what he needed to do to make himself a better fit.

She walked down the stairs and the doorbell rang, “Coming!” People need to keep their pants on, she wasn’t even expecting whoever it was. She realized that she was still carrying the book and sat it on the stairs before walking to the door.

She gripped the door and paused feeling something off, but she pulled the door open anyway. And on the other side of the door stood none other than Peter Hale.

Lydia started to slam the door shut as the words, “Hell no!” came out of her mouth, but Peter stuck his foot in the door blocking her attempt an eliciting a frustrated growl from Lydia’s teeth. “Just hear me out.” Lydia pushed but the door wasn’t moving. She stood blocking the entrance making it obvious that Peter was going no further than the doorway, even though she knew had he wanted to he could toss her out of the way.

“What do you want?” she said trying to sound menacing. “Actually, It's what you want.. I was going to offer you exactly what you are looking for, if you help me out in return.” Lydia’s eyebrows dropped in disbelief and she frowned, “What makes you think you know anything about what I want?” Peter pulled his foot back giving Lydia the opportunity to shut the door in his face, “Werewolf hearing, and you whisper when you read little fae.”

Lydia knew that the shock was plastered on her face, she knew it was true, even reading the bestiary she would whisper when reading, usually in archaic latin. Peter smiled, “Actually glad you are brushing up on your resurrection reading, because that is exactly what I was hoping for in return.” Lydia regained her composure and sneered at Peter, “Always a little quid pro quo? Who did you have in mind? Hitler? Stalin? You can forget about it. You don’t have anything that I want.”

Peter stepped back and the glass in the door rattled as it slammed in his face. “Not even getting underneath that cloak of yours?” He stood and waited. The door opened again slowly and Lydia peered out at him her eyes quite intense. “What do you know?” Peter tilted his head upward, he knew he had her attention. A smiles slowly bloomed on his face. “I can’t show all my cards, I won’t have any leverage to get what I want.” Lydia’s knuckles were white with the tight grip she had on the doorknob. "I will tell you this, the cloak doesn't unzip in the back."

Lydia leaned into the door frame easing her grip, “So, before I agree," she dropped her voice emphasizing the seriousness in her tone, "and just so you know, I haven’t agreed yet, who were you trying to raise from the dead this time?”

Peter crossed his arms across his chest, Lydia thought to herself that it looked almost protective, like he was guarding himself from something. Peter could feel the judgment in her gaze as she inspected him, looking for something to hold on to, some reason to trust him in the least.

“I want to get Laura back.”

 

* * *

 

The sheets next to Isaac are cold when he wakes up face down in the pillows and Scott’s scent, though saturating the entire room, is not fresh. He rolls over and notes the embarrassing morning wood issue and figured it's probably for the best that Scott is nowhere to be seen or he would have a repeat performance of the previous morning. The previous night had been an exercise in self control when Scott kept pulling him close cuddling, the warmth of Scott’s skin and scent was a lot to resist.

He pulled himself up leaning back against the headboard and rolled his head around stretching his tight muscles. The other items scenting the room would need to be replaced if this ploy to placate Scott’s inner wolf was to continue working. Though he was really unsure if Scott’s sense of smell was the same as his. He stopped to wonder if it had worked last night, but about the time he scooted to the edge of the mattress his cell started ringing. Speak of the devil, it was Scott calling. Isaac couldn’t stop the slight smile that played across his lips as he answered, “Hey, what’s up?” Scott sounded chipper on the other end, “I think that I am starting to get this pack thing down, somehow I just knew you were awake and then you started worrying about something. What is it?”

Isaac pulled the covers back across his legs and smiled, “Now you are the one feeling my emotions?” The dogs barking in the background told Isaac where Scott was and what he was taking a break from doing. “Actually, I have been getting these vibes from all the pack today. Sam is keeping her wolf in check, she left karate class early this morning, Jason has been super mellow all day, I texted him and he was a home drawing. I can’t really feel Ethan as much, but something was bothering me earlier. I can’t get this feeling out of my head.”

Isaac hopped off the bed and walked into Scott’s bathroom, “What does it feel like?” Scott cleared his throat on the other end of the phone, “It’s hard to describe, I just feel anxious like claustrophobic, but it stopped suddenly and I thought it was getting better but now it feels worse, only different. This is making no sense.” Scott sounded like he felt as if he weren’t explaining himself well enough, but Isaac understood too well. Isaac leaned into the cool countertop and watched his own brows crease with worry, “No, I understand. Do you feel like the emotions are coming from the pack or from you?” “I dunno, the first feelings seemed like outside, but then after they died off I started to get worried.”

“Maybe you are feeling Ethan and you just haven’t gotten a good sense for him yet?” Isaac offered hoping it was true. “No,” Scott sounded gruff like he was still feeling anxious, “It’s not Ethan, I feel him too, just not as clearly. This is something else, maybe someone else.”

Isaac could not only hear the anxiety in Scott’s voice but he started feeling it too, “Calm down Scott. I can feel you stressing out. Take a deep breath and just listen to my voice.” The tension bleeding through their connection waned. “You think maybe there is another wolf out there?” Scott answered with an annoyed huff of breath out his nose. Isaac switched the phone to his other hand and ear, “We will figure things out, try not to worry about it.”

Scott was obviously trying to change the subject when he continued talking. “Mom mentioned Stiles was at the hospital this morning, apparently he electrocuted himself trying to hotwire his jeep. Almost kills himself and still I haven’t heard from him. Mom said he was up to helping you move some of the stuff at the West house, Mrs. West did say you might need a couple people.” Scott paused and Isaac started to reply but something fed through their connection that made him pause. “Maybe you can find out what is up with him.” It struck a cord in Isaac feeling Scott miss Stiles, it brought back the memory of that same feeling he felt thinking about his brother who would never come home from the war.

“Yeah, I will talk to him. It is probably nothing,” even Isaac thought he sounded patronizing, “maybe he just has a lot on his mind, or I dunno, maybe he thinks you have your plate full at the moment.” The dogs barking got louder as Scott walked back into the kennel area, “Yeah, maybe you are right.” Isaac could hear the same tone in Scott’s voice. You would think it might occur to either of them that the other was a werewolf and could sense when you are lying, even when you are lying to yourself. “I have to get back to work. Hey, I know you don’t like the twins, but I need you to try to get along with them, maybe see if you can get a feel for Aiden.”

“Scott-” Isaac started to argue, “Just… please, do this for me. I need to bring him into the pack if it will keep him from going Omega, but I want someone to keep an eye on him too. I have to make sure that things are going to work out.”

He couldn’t just forget the fact that their pack killed Erica and took away his memories, forced Derek to kill Boyd and never took responsibility or even made an attempt at a half ass apologize for any of it. Never an explanation offered, and Scott just wanted him to play nice. All the shit they did didn’t just disappear when their pack leader did. Isaac understood that they were just following orders, but it wasn’t something that he was just going to sweep under the rug. They had a long way to go if they were going to earn his trust, and he wasn’t going to let them take advantage of Scott’s generous nature either, even if he had to go against Scott’s wishes.

“Yeah, maybe I can get Ethan and Aiden to help me at the West job, I’m sure they are probably hurting for money too, right?” He could feel the smile on Scott’s face and hear it in his voice, “Yeah, that is a good idea. I gotta go finish cleaning out the cages. I lu… uh, I’ll uh, see you after work.”

The phone went dead but Isaac was still holding it to his ear. Was Scott about to say what he thought he was about to say? Things were getting a little awkward.

 

* * *

 

 

Chris tossed the barrel of his retrofitted gun across his shoulder, the light from his site mounted torch reflected off the dingy ceiling panels and lit the room with a soft glow. He sighed, “No sign of the bloodsucker anywhere.” Steven pulled up his tablet and tapped at the screen, the glow of his screen threw his face into contrast in the dark hallway of the empty office building. “We have a search pattern established, you just worry about these weapons of yours.” Zooming in on the blueprints he turned the screen to show Chris, “Looks like a sub basement that needs to be checked.” He smiled and turned the screen to Anne, “The entrance is up ahead in the floor of the storage room.”

Steven smiled to himself, obviously very proud of himself. “You say this gun shoots crossbow bolts? Why not just use a crossbow?” Chris was following Anne who was keeping point. “Vampires move too fast to hit them with a bolt from a crossbow. We are lucky to hit them with shots from a gun, but a bullet will just pass through and heal,” he paused for emphasis looking Steven in the eyes, “quickly. These bolts are designed so they break apart and slow down as they pass through. Hopefully don’t make it out the other side.”

Anne held up her fist to signal everyone to still, Chris tightened his grip on his rifle. She moved around the corner and peered into the dark. A young man stood in the middle of the next room, the wall behind him was the secret panel standing open, a bright light inside left the boys face in shadow. "A sire perhaps," Anne whispered, "he will not have the speed and power of his master but, stay cautious."

“He said you would come looking for him.” The voice was loud but lacked the natural tone of normal conversations. It was flat, lifeless, like a computer generated voice, but flowing out of a very human mouth.

Anne directed her light to the boy’s face and his face looked the same as his voice. He had no expression at all, and his eyes didn’t even register that Anne was there. His pupils were wide open and nonresponsive to the light’s stimulation. “He has tolerated your interference as long as he is going to.” “Alex has him enthralled, he could be instructed to do anything. Stay on your toes.” Anne whispered while giving quick hand signals for her brothers and Chris to move into the next room.

They moved quickly but quietly and took cover behind shelving units and desks that were haphazardly strewn through the room. “You aren’t the ones he wanted to kill. If he wanted you dead you would already be, so, stop following him or else.” The boy didn’t seem to react to them entering the room, he just stood in the same spot on the dirty carpet. Chris inspected the boy from his vantage behind a set of metal bookshelves. It didn’t look like he had any kind of weaponry, tight fitting clothing, no visible wiring for an explosive, but looks could be deceiving. Steven’s kids had made that very mistake the previous day.

Anne’s oldest brother was quietly moving from desk to desk, Chris thought his name was Ryan but couldn’t keep them separated in his head, they rarely talked and didn’t seem to have much personality. They were soldiers, that is all that seemed to matter to them. He had circled around behind the kid and Chris couldn’t see the other brother Victor. They had been doing this for a long time and moved like one person. Anne surprised Chris and stood up walking slowly toward the boy, gun and flashlight still resolutely trained on his head.

His face didn’t react to her approach until she was about four foot away, then he looked her in the eye. “He said you would come, you specifically, even after everything you went through, still… so high and mighty with your hunter mindset.” Anne winced but held the gun steady, the beam from her torch lighting his face and shoulders. “He’s not here, you are wasting your time.”

Alex had been feeding on him for awhile, even puncture marks showed beneath the stretched out neck of his shirt, most of them were healed but still colored with crusty rusted stains. The cuffs of his long sleeve shirt were stained with blood as well as the neck. Alex was a sloppy drinker, but a luckily a controlled one. So far they had found no dead from his feeding.

Victor stood on the other side of the boy merely feet away, Chris had no idea how he made it there so quietly without his notice. He pulled a glass vial from his jacket and broke the seal waving it through the air. Anne nodded directing the beam directly into the boy’s eyes. They were still dilated and inert as the boy lifted his chin just a little, “No, he didn’t turn me because I was to be a message. I can however still smell your vial of blood.” He paused to look over at Chris even though Chris was sure that he was well hidden in the shadows, “Keep an eye on your daughter Argent, wouldn’t want her to die with vampire blood in her system.”

With that the boy turned back to Anne, his pupils constricted in the bright light and he lifted his hands to shield them from the bright light. “Please, don’t hurt me, I didn’t do anything….where am I?” The boy seemed to be exhibiting all the normal reactions to what he had been through.

Anne pulled out a side arm and said, “Can’t take any chances.” The suppressor on her 9 millimeter dulled the shot as two shots spit out the barrel, the boy hit the carpet. Chris leapt to his feet and rushed toward Anne, “What the hell do you think you are doing?!?” Ryan met him with a solid hand to the chest and Anne appeared over his shoulder. “Relax, Chris, it’s a tranq gun. We need to keep him under observation until the vampire blood is out of his system.” She huffed out a mirthless laugh, “I wouldn’t want to MAKE a vampire Chris, I’m not stupid.” She stepped around Ryan and narrowed her eyes at Chris, “Though, it might be a good idea to do the same with your daughter. I had my suspicions of her since the very first day.”

She stepped to stand over the boy, “Get a picture of him, I am sure the Sheriff will have him on his lost and found board.” She signaled her brothers to take point into the sub basement, “You should tell him to look into expanding the space. Odds are he will need it.”

 

* * *

 

 

“How the hell do you get up there so quick?” Ethan yelled up at Jason. “And you barely leave any marks on the tree. It’s like your scent just disappears, and so do you.” They had been playing hide and seek trying to hone their abilities. Suddenly he was hit behind his knees, his arm twisted behind his back and a clawed hand was around his throat, “The better question,” Sam purred into his ear, “is how I am so much better at this than someone who has been an Alpha?”

Sam dropped down out of the tree and landed in front of Ethan laughing, “I guess she got you.” The next second the three of them found themselves rolling through the leaves and Sam was lifted up to be pinned against a tree. Aiden’s glowing eyes were thin as his growl rattled deep in his chest. Jason had crashed head first into a trunk and was dazed. Sam was fumbling at his fingers trying to pull free and Aiden merely threw out an hand about to slash across her torso. “Aiden!” Ethan grabbed his hand and pulled him off balance causing him to lose his grip on Sam, “What the hell are you doing?”

Aiden pulled out of his brother’s grip his eyes wide as he pointed angrily at Sam, “She was going to slash your throat!” Ethan stepped between him and Sam shoving him back, “She was being playful, what is wrong with you?”

Isaac jogged up and stopped next to Sam, reaching out to touch her shoulder reassuring, “This was supposed to be pack bonding and training.” He stepped up to Ethan drawing up to his full height. He didn’t know why he felt the need to assert his place in the pack, but Ethan was not in good standing as it was, and Aiden was an outsider. “I told you that he shouldn’t have come along. This is probably distracting Scott while he is at work.” He looked back and Jason had shook off the knock to the head and was looking at Sam with concern.

As if on cue Isaac’s phone starts ringing. He pulls it out and checks, then shows the face to Ethan. Scott’s name is on the display. “Hey-” Scott interrupts immediately, “I tried to call Sam but her phone is out of minutes, is she okay?” “Yeah, Scott, she is fine. Just a little misunderstanding.” Isaac could feel the panic that had flared to life ebbing to a much softer concern. “You can explain later in more detail, but I don’t like not being able to reach her, why is her phone out of minutes?” “I, um… hold on.”

Isaac looked back to Ethan and Aiden, even though Ethan was in the pack he didn’t want to discuss things in front of them. If they wanted his trust they would have to earn it. He turned and walked the other way. If they wanted to listen in, they probably could, but he would at least make them work for it.

He looked back over his shoulder and Ethan was helping Sam up off the ground, he listened in tilting his head just right to hear Ethan say, “That was actually really impressive, I didn’t hear you at all.” Sam dusted the seat of her jeans off and shrugged, “They teach us to step softly in class.”

Aiden was stalking off toward a stump to sit down when Scott’s voice brought Isaac back to the conversation, “Hello? What is going on?” Isaac leaned against a thin pine and started, “I meant to recharge everyone’s phones with minutes but with all the texting that you guys are doing and calling and organizing, I just… I didn’t have enough on my card to get everyone, and Sam was with me, she volunteered to go without cause she said she didn’t need it as much.”

Isaac felt the wave of guilt from Scott and tried to explain, “It’s not your fault Scott, I should have told you, but it kinda slipped my mind with everything that has been going on.” Scott huffed, “No, I know, I am actually broke til I get paid, so I know exactly what you mean. I can’t ask Mom for more money, she already has too much on her plate.” Isaac thought about the fact that he was one of those things on her plate and tried to force himself not to feel anything that Scott would sense. “No, you aren’t one of those things.” Guess he failed at masking that emotion. “Even without you we would still be behind on the mortgage. It’s something we have been dealing with way before you came along.”

“I just want to help as much as I can, your Mom has done so much for me, and I don’t want to be a burden to her.” Isaac knew he was being stupid, but as soon as he turned 18 and got the money his father left in his trust account, he was going to catch the McCall family up on their bills. “Dude, if you knew how thankful Mom was that you can cook! You would not be questioning how much you help. Seriously, it is her least favorite thing in the world. Well, that and ironing, why do you think everything is usually wrinkled? I have never been able to do laundry to suit her and you help with that too. She came home the other day and actually complained that she didn’t have anything to do. Just sat down after being on her feet all day. So…. please, don’t think you are a burden.”

Isaac smiled, “Thanks.”Scott always knew how to make him feel better, even when he felt like things would be better for the family without him there. “And I like having you around too. Even if you weren’t pack, it’s nice to have someone to hang out with, getting to stay up late and talk, and having someone that.. you know, worries about me.” He thought back to the call earlier in the morning and the awkward way that it had ended, “Scott, I…” his face flushed with embarrassment, “I better let you get back to work.”

The warm feeling that seemed to come straight from Scott was pretty unmistakable, “Yeah, I still have to bathe Mr. Kidd’s lab. She gets water everywhere. Seems like no matter what I do I always get soaking wet.” Isaac started picturing that and shook the thoughts away. He knew Scott had already noted them. This whole situation was completely unfair, and so awkward. Scott continued, “I will meet up with you guys as soon as I get home and change. Unless you want me to come wet?” “Just get to work, we’ll figure out what to do about Sam’s phone later.” He could feel Scott’s smile and hear it through the phone as he laughed, “I’ll see you later. Don’t forget about Stiles and the West house tomorrow.”

  


Ethan walked over to Aiden, he looked back and checked that Isaac was still on the phone. Jason was teaching Sam how he climbed trees so quickly without his claws because that would mark up the bark. “If this is trying to make a good impression, I really wish you wouldn’t.” Aiden tossed the rest of the twig he had been snapping into small pieces away, “I think I just figured out an in.”

Ethan looked back to Isaac as he switched the weight from one leg to the other and leaned back against the tree. “Are you listening to his conversation?” Aiden nodded, “Always could hear better than you.” Ethan rolled his eyes, “Yeah, and my night vision is still better. What’d you hear?”

Aiden hopped up from the stump and got closer to Ethan, “We have a bag with several tens of thousands of dollars in it, and McCall needs to pay his cell phone bills, plus Mom is behind on the house payments.” Ethan dropped an eyebrow at his words, “So, how does that help you?”

Aiden smiled, “Little brother-” “we are twins Aiden.” Ethan interrupted. “I’m older than you by 23 seconds, which makes me the oldest.” He reached out and patted his brother on the cheek, “I think I might go talk to Deucalion's friend at the bank. Surely a little pressure on McCall will make him more receptive to accepting money for including me in his pack.”

“That’s just going to piss him off more if he finds out that you did that. Scott isn’t going to let you buy your way into the pack.” Ethan grabbed his brother by the shoulders and turned him away from Isaac so the sound wouldn’t be as likely to travel that far. Isaac was still leaned against the tree twisting his shoe into the leaves. Ethan paused to watch him for a second. It looked almost shy and playful the way he was curled around the phone, and he was twisting locks of his hair and twirling them around his finger as he talked to Scott on the phone.

Ethan’s eyes narrowed as he watched him. Aiden interrupted snapping his fingers in Ethan’s face, “So, then what do you suggest? If I can’t buy my way in or coerce him, what do I do?” “I don’t know Aiden, maybe try doing something nice?” It was Aiden’s turn to roll his eyes. “Can you still hear what he is saying?” Aiden turned his head slightly, “Scott’s gushing on and on about how Isaac is the perfect housewife, cooking, cleaning, why?” “Because, idiot, that is what Scott likes about people, they are helpful, considerate. They contribute to the group without expecting something in return.”

Aiden looked back over his shoulder listening in to the conversation, then turned back and smiled, “Yeah? Or maybe McCall just has a thing for Lahey’s pretty little mouth and maybe THAT is why he appreciates him. I don’t think that I am going to be able to win Scott over by ‘worrying about him’.” Aiden accentuated the sentence with air quotes.

Ethan stepped back and sat down on the tree stump, “I never realized just how creepy that, listening in on another person’s conversation really is, until I hear you repeat what they are saying.”

Aiden let out a deep sigh, “Fine, I will try this ‘being nice’ thing and see how it works out.” Ethan added, “And while you are at it, why don’t you try not to maim or kill any of the other pack members.” His brother laughed, “Please, she would have been fine, just, would have thought twice about sneaking up behind a Carver again.”

Ethan smiled and eyed his older brother. “Awww, are you protecting me from the bullies on the playground?”

Aiden punched him in the arm, “Shut up. What’s Isaac and Stiles doing at the West house tomorrow?”

 

* * *

 

 

Deputy Graeme met the Sheriff just as he was climbing out of his cruiser, “What do we have?” Shelly adjusted the volume on her radio so that it wasn’t going off in her ear, “The posted officer was drugged. He was out cold when I got here to relieve him. He doesn’t remember a thing, but honestly not sure how they would have drugged him inside a closed cruiser.” The EMT’s were pulling a stretcher down the sidewalk toward the street as the Sheriff and his Deputy made their way toward the house, and Jonathan overheard one say to the other that they would need to make multiple trips to the hospital and back. A second ambulance was pulling up as they started up the walk toward the house.

“Honestly, like nothing I have ever seen. We have five more of those coma victims for transport to the hospital. By my count that makes an even 12. I figured with the previous victims that they were in no danger of dying, so I kept them as they were until we could get the forensics team down here to photograph the scene. You are going to want to see this.”

Jonathan stopped walking, “First thing I want is the neighbor brought in for questioning, I knew from the moment we taped off the scene that something was up with him.” Shelly huffed out a breath, “Yeah, that is going to be a problem.” About that time the next stretcher rolled by with the neighbor strapped in place. He was part of the group that was doing all of this, whatever it was.

He waved the EMT on to the ambulance and turned back to his Deputy. He shook his head softly and pinched the bridge of his nose. “What…” He looked up at her and grimaced, “was I just going to have to see?”

As they walked into the house the first thing to hit him was the smell of incense or burning herbs. It wasn’t an unpleasant smell, but seriously strong. The previously sparse decorations had all been moved out of the living area, the furniture relocated to other rooms in the house, and the rug was pulled up from the middle of the floor. In it’s place, a large circle drawn on the floor. It almost touched the opposite walls and was filled with detailed shapes and symbols.

Long tapered candles were still burning in a pattern around the room and the bodies still present, were each placed in one of five points of a star drawn on the floor within the circle. They each had on white night clothing and their heads rested on a pillow close to the center.

Jonathan made a mental note to call Alan as soon as he could clear the scene of any officers. “Any trace?” He looked to his Deputy with hopeful eyes, but she just pulled her hands up to her waist and scrunched up her nose. “Forensics went through the whole area, not to poke fun of the obvious, but they said it was so clean, and I am quoting Jack verbatim, ‘It was like magic.’”

“I have never, in my entire history of being Sheriff, struck one of my deputies while on duty before Shelly, but so help me.” Shelly laughed and stepped back. “One possible lead, or could be nothing… a couple boot prints in clay out on the other side of the road. They looked like they were coming from the house, but they just start in the middle of the street.” Shelly pulled out a pad to make a note. “I’ll have the photos on your desk after lunch, maybe you can have Stiles look at them, he has a real knack for seeing details and patterns.” The Sheriff smiled, “Yeah, that he does. Get names from all these sleepers, I want to cross check them and see if we can figure out what we are missing. They have to have something in common.”

Jonathan turned and walked back toward his cruiser as Shelly went back inside to wrap things up. “Graeme,” He turned to catch her eye and she looked back over her shoulder, “Make sure nothing is removed from the scene other than the sleepers.” “You got it Sir.” He paused along the way back to his cruiser and thought about the boot prints.

Walking over to the middle of the road, he noted that the prints really didn’t seem to be of interest to any of the people that had ran over them since. The prints had all been crushed and the clay was spread along the road in tire tracks. He kneeled down and brushed the clay between his fingertips. He remembered this color clay, distinctly remembered cleaning it off his shoes after visiting with Calvin and the lawyer evicting him.

He pulled out his phone to call up Alan, looked like he was going to have to head back over to Zane’s and ask Calvin a couple of questions.

 

* * *

 

 

They had already made the rounds through the whole mall, gotten Rachel a makeover at the makeup counter where Allison found a really good concealer whispering how Lydia had said she needed it for freckles; Danny finally convinced Rose that he didn’t need any cologne without having to tell her about werewolves not liking strong and more importantly fake scents; Danny gave Rose and Rachel the details on where to pick up hot guys in Beacon Hills, other than school that is. Over all it had been a pretty fun day.

Allison pulled Danny back to look at a funny poster while Rose and Rachel were still trying on silly hats, “So, what’s the story with Rachel? You keep looking at her like she is about to go off at any second.” He looked back over his shoulder and then back to Allison, “No, she is great. I don’t…” He stopped mid sentence when she dropped the disbelief eyebrows on him. He looked back to the two girls and they had moved further up reading the insulting birthday cards to each other.

“She feels other people’s emotions, like reading a book apparently.” Allison studied him a moment. “I think she wanted to talk to me about it, but we kinda all showed up at the same time and haven’t really gotten to yet.” Allison looked up the aisle toward Rachel and she immediately stopped laughing and dropped the card in the floor. She turned to meet Allison’s eyes and her face fell stoic. Allison felt a shock of fear, was Rachel a threat? what kind of supernatural creature could feel people’s emotions? Her mind was suddenly going around with all the knowledge she had gleaned from the bestiary and she was thinking of ways to defend against any of the multiple creatures that Rachel could be. The look on Rachel’s face pulled Allison out of her planning and tactics. Shock, hurt, confusion; they were played out on her face as plain as if Allison could read Rachel’s emotions. Rachel was just a girl that was going through something she didn’t understand. She was reaching out looking for help, and Allison’s first instinct is to find a way to kill her.

Allison opened her mouth to say something but Rachel just turned back to Rose and reached out to take the card Rose had retrieved.

“It just started for her and I think she is a little freaked out about it.” Danny pulled a Plush Grumpy Cat off the opposite shelf and fluffed its fur, “So, how did you met Rose?” Allison turned back to Danny and huffed out a little laugh, “She was in the middle of my apartment this morning, I can’t imagine that Dad just left the door wide open, but nothing was missing from the apartment.” She smiled and looked back at Rose, “She seems really nice, maybe a little naive, but nice.”

Allison’s phone chimed a message. “It’s from Alan, I have to meet up with Scott and Stiles at the clinic.” Allison looked back at Rachel and then turned to Danny, “I’m going to head out. Tell them bye for me?” Danny nodded.

  


  
Rachel watched Danny lean into a quick hug and Allison walk out the door. Danny turned back to something on the shelf like it was no big that Allison just ghosted. Rose pulled the carved wooden ring off her finger that she had been trying on and turned to see what Rachel was looking at. “She is just leaving without saying bye? Well, that ain’t too friendly.” Rachel took the ring from Rose and slid it down her index finger. “Yeah, I’m not so sure that I like her.” The ring was way too big and she tossed it back into the pile. “Take it with a grain of salt, but I dunno, something about her just seems a little off.”

Rose smiled, “Maybe she is just having a bad couple days. I always try to give people the benefit of getting to know them. It’s not like we can just know what they are thinking.” She pranced off down the aisle toward Danny. Rachel laughed to herself, not all of us can know what people are thinking. She stopped to realize that everything had been much calmer today. The only serious read she had gotten for most of the day was Allison. The moody clerk at the checkout was super chill, probably high; two middle school boys were looking at the half naked women on the posters in the back, everyone could tell what they were feeling. Danny’s emotions were there but not overt and Rose, she stopped to feel. She didn’t even notice it, but Rose didn’t seem to give off any emotions. She reached out trying to concentrate, really the opposite of what she had been doing all day. Nothing.  
Finally she found someone that she could be friends with and not be bombarded with their feelings.

 

* * *

 

Phoenix was just relaxing against the railing in the elevator of the parking garage when the perfectly manicured talons of Ava Vettingham caught the door just before it closed. The door slowly pulled back and revealing Ava in her charcoal pantsuit, she stepped in flashing her smile at him. She stood gracefully in the middle of the elevator as the doors slowly rolled across to shut. Just as the elevator started to descend she reach over and pulled the knob to stop the elevator.   
“I thought we weren’t supposed to be seen in public together?” Phoenix said leaned against the stainless steel bar wrapped around the inside of the box. “Mr. Kim, this isn’t public, no cameras, no one to see us, just a stalled elevator car involving two strangers.” Phoenix lifted his arms to cross them, his well cut suit accentuated his slight frame well as he turned his attention to the woman  “Peyton will be enrolling at Beacon Hills High for the upcoming semester.” “Peyton has already finished her schooling,” “That wasn’t a request Mr. Kim, it was a notification. I will discuss with her the details of her mission, however I will need to you to fill out the required paperwork.”

Phoenix shifted his weight to his other foot and slid his hands into his pockets, “It is going to be difficult for the school system to ignore the fact that her transcripts state she has already graduated.” Ava reached out and press the controls back in restoring the elevator to normal operation and laughed softly. “Oh Phoenix, you and I both know how easily documents can be faked.” With that the door opened and Ava stepped out of the car and was off down the sidewalk.

Phoenix stepped into the doorway and watched Ava power walking away in her ridiculously high heels, everything about that woman made him question their involvement. He turned out of the elevator the other way, walking down half a block and then ducked into an alleyway that looked questionable at best. The already narrow alleyway actually went under the expansion between the two buildings that had been connected at some point in the past. Brick windows had been bricked up with mismatched bricks and the alley had offshoot walkways that ended at a dead end making for lots of dark places to hide.

He walked down the alley kicking cans out of the path and stepping around garbage bins until he came to the door he was looking for. The windows were marked with neon signs advertising palm and tarot card readings, various leather bound books were propped up in the windows, and the glass was actually etched with various symbols in intersecting lines and circles. Arakhne’s Web was written in flowing script in the middle of the woven symbols.

The bell at the door was an old brass one jingling merrily as he swung the door open. The closely spaced shelves in the shop were neatly arranged but tightly packed with a myriad of boxes, bottles and trinkets. Dust clung to the majority of the items almost like they were only there for show. The overwhelming scent of dried herbs hung heavy in the air and smoke was wafting through the shop from somewhere deeper inside.

Phoenix paused to look at the stoppered vials of oils, dark amber plastic bottles of oils that were, according to the package, rare from the corners of the earth. He picked up the bottle and checked finding the sticker ‘made in China’ stuck to the bottom. The voice was warm and flavored with a thick accent, “If you are planning on stealing, those are definitely the oils for you.”

 

* * *

 

  
Stiles pulled out his phone and double checked his text messages, “Yes Daz, Isaac confirmed; meet at the West house at 8am tomorrow. What has you in such a testy mood today?” Kai grumbled, “That was aloud Dark Moon.” Stiles cut his eyes at Kai, “There is no one here but you and me, what does it matter?”

They had been walking since a little after Melissa dropped him off, he promised Alan that he would meet up with him to talk about the set of items that Alan had had made for the three of them. He tried to keep to the forest for most of the walk, but they were making their way along the back of the business complex where Deaton’s clinic was located. ‘You don’t need it Stiles, that little trinket the Druid made for you is a waste of time, kind of like you don’t need this lumbering beast either, I am perfectly capable of protecting you myself. Besides, aren’t you supposed to be cleaning out the basement? Your father agreed that Chris Argent could use that area for the upcoming full moon.’

“You should get in the habit of talking silently or you will give yourself away,” Kai shifted closer to Stiles as a delivery truck drove by engine rumbling angrily, “I don’t know about here in your realm, but they are not looked on as normal in many of the other realms.” “I’ll clean out the basement later today, I just think that I should hear Alan out. It’s not like I HAVE to take the trinket.” Kai sighed loudly. “Yeah Kai, I get it, it sounds like I am insane and talking to myself. If I don’t watch it I will end up in Eichen House.”

Stiles stopped walking suddenly and Kai glanced quickly around the surrounding area. “No, it’s not... everything is fine, I just thought about the fact that I don’t want to have to explain the huge personal bodyguard to Alan.. or Scott. Allison.” It just hit Stiles that this would be the first time that he had seen Scott since the last full moon. Since Scott almost ripped his heart from his chest, since he found out about Scott being his brother and found out that he himself also had the secret of his mother’s magic. ‘Everything will be fine Stiles. He is the same Scott that you have been friends with for your entire life.’ Daz soothed Stiles’ fears as Kai appeared to be pouting. “How far away will you be? I need to be close enough to protect you. Your father already left you in the care of a weak human female.” Stiles pointed up to the third delivery bay, “Just past that building, the alleyway leads up to the clinic.” He looked up to the dark skinned protector shielding his eyes from the sun. “I can hold my own against a dragon, I am pretty sure I can handle most anything else for the moment. And Melissa is pretty impressive when she needs to be.”

“Fine, I will wait at the corner.” Kai grumbled. Stiles noted that he looked kind of ridiculous in his father’s old sweats, but also hot. Stiles not only knew that he wasn’t wearing underwear, Stiles couldn't find any that would fit him, but he could see that he wasn’t. ‘Really,’ the cold voice in his head pulled him out of his teenage hormone fueled daydreams. ‘What?’ Stiles remembered to use his ‘inside voice’. ‘You ever stop to think that the dragon is only worried about his own skin?’

They continued walking toward the alleyway without saying anything. ‘You said he can’t be pulled back through the veil as long as we are connected.’ Stiles said unsure. ‘Yes, but that doesn’t mean that someone can’t come through from the other side and come get him. And as powerful as a dragon is, he is no match for fae magic, and believe it or not, we are.’

Kai laughed a soft chuckle, “You are getting better little witch, but your face still betrays you.” Kai stopped to lean against the wall at the corner of the alleyway next to the back entrance to Deaton’s clinic.

The temperatures out had dropped significantly since yesterday, but it was still warm. The white tee Kai was wearing was sticking to him, a band of warm dark skin showing as the tee rode up and Stiles may have inadvertently let his eyes drop back to the outline in his sweats. He looked back up to note that Kai had been watching him, but didn’t react. “Just remember Dark Moon, you are the one in control, don’t let the others take control.”

‘Let’s just get this over with. We still need to get to the bank before going home to clean out the basement, and you have to be up early to get to the West house.’ Stiles rolled his eyes. Kai slid his back down the wall until he was seated. “You are gone too long, I’m coming to look for you.”

  


**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fan-fiction. Please be gentle. 
> 
> If you see a mistake, message me. If you like the story, comment. You don't know how much encouragement it gives writers when you leave a little note.
> 
> If no one likes it, I am writing this for myself as much as for anyone else, so, it is never a waste. 
> 
> Much love to all of you who have already gave kudos or comments.


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